Dana White Announces McGregor-Holloway 2 and Massive UFC 329 Main Card

What Is The Full UFC 329 Main Card?

McGregor vs. Holloway could sell tickets on its own, but there is more meat on the bone here. The UFC stacked the rest of the main card with names and stakes from top to bottom, giving International Fight Week a five-fight slate that doesn’t drop off after the main event.

Benoit Saint-Denis vs. Paddy Pimblett anchors the co-main at lightweight.

Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista handles bantamweight contender duties. Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanaugh delivers a potential all-action flyweight fight. And Gable Steveson opens the PPV in his UFC debut at heavyweight against Elisha Ellison.

What Makes McGregor Vs. Holloway 2 The Biggest Fight Of 2026?

Technically, both fighters are coming off losses in their last fight, and both men are past their prime. However, McGregor and Holloway might be the two most popular fighters in the sport’s history. EA UFC 6 drops a month before IFW and Holloway is one of the cover stars. Everything is aligned well.

The first fight was August 17, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26, with McGregor taking a unanimous decision over a 21-year-old Holloway despite tearing his ACL early in the bout. Thirteen years later, the two meet at welterweight in Holloway’s weight-class debut, with McGregor returning from a nearly five-year layoff since his UFC 264 broken-leg loss to Dustin Poirier. The rematch is booked for five rounds, despite earlier reporting that McGregor’s team pushed for three.

Will Paddy Pimblett Pass The Benoit Saint-Denis Test?

BSD could make a power move up the 155-pound rankings with a win, but Pimblett’s ground game is amazing. We’ll see if he sticks to it or if he allows BSD to pull him into a stand-up war like Justin Gaethje did in January.

Saint-Denis enters on a four-fight winning streak, most recently finishing Dan Hooker at UFC 325 in February. He’s a pressure-fighter built on relentless pace, heavy grappling and submission threats — exactly the kind of stylistic test Pimblett needs to pass to silence questions about his ceiling at the elite ranked level. Betting markets opened with BSD at -200 and Pimblett at +170, which lines up with the “is Paddy real” framing the matchmaking implies.

What’s At Stake In Sandhagen Vs. Bautista And Royval Vs. Kavanaugh?

Cory Sandhagen is one of the most respected 135-pounders in the sport, but he’s never gotten over the hump. This fight with Bautista could be his last realistic shot to move into position for a title shot.

Bautista brings the surging-contender energy on the climb, with a well-rounded pressure game that’s earned him a real ranked-level matchup. Royval vs. Kavanaugh is a different story — it’s built for scramble chaos at flyweight, and notably the betting markets have Lone’er Kavanaugh as the favorite over Brandon Royval, which says everything about how the inside-the-sport read on this matchup has tilted.

Is Gable Steveson Ready For The UFC Heavyweight Division?

We’ll find out pretty soon, even if it’s not in Steveson’s UFC debut. I’d be shocked if Ellison gets out of the first round.

Steveson won Olympic gold at 125 kg freestyle wrestling in the 2020 Tokyo Games and is a multiple-time NCAA champion at the University of Minnesota. He even spent time in WWE, NFL training camp with the Buffalo Bills and in Dirty Boxing.

The UFC has him entering as a huge favorite against Ellison.

After the strong night the heavyweight division had at MVP MMA 1 with Francis Ngannou’s highlight-reel KO of Philipe Lins, the UFC needs a real prospect push of its own, and Steveson is the cleanest candidate they have.