The UFC descends on T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend for UFC 329 on Saturday, July 11, 2026. It’s International Fight Week, and for the first time since 2021, Conor McGregor is actually fighting. Here is everything you need heading into fight night: full card breakdown, odds breakdown, and a fighter spotlight on one of the card’s most compelling athletes.
Full Fight Card Preview
Main Event: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2
Conor McGregor is back. For real this time. Five years removed from the gruesome leg break at UFC 264, “The Notorious” walks back into T-Mobile Arena to face Max “Blessed” Holloway in a five-round welterweight main event that nobody predicted when this rematch was booked — and yet somehow makes complete sense. Their first fight was at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013, a technical scrap McGregor won by unanimous decision while quietly tearing his ACL mid-fight. Neither man looked anything like what they’d eventually become. The rematch, thirteen years later on the biggest UFC card of the year, is a completely different animal.
The version of McGregor that shows up at UFC 329 is a complicated proposition. He’s 37 years old, carries a titanium rod in his leg, and sits at 1-3 in his last four UFC bouts — losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier twice, sandwiched around a 40-second demolition of Donald Cerrone. He hasn’t competed since July 10, 2021. The sport doesn’t pause for anyone, and the betting market reflects that reality: McGregor opened at +190 to +225 depending on the book, the heaviest underdog price of his UFC career. The oddsmakers are telling you something. McGregor’s still one of the most recognizable athletes on earth, but recognizability doesn’t land on a chin.
Max Holloway has been very, very busy in those five years. He’s 27-9 and moving up not one but two weight classes to welterweight for this fight. His recent stretch: a vicious KO loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 308, followed by the walk-off knockout of Justin Gaethje in Round 5 at UFC 300 — one of the most stunning finishes in the promotion’s history — then a unanimous decision win over Dustin Poirier in their trilogy at UFC 318, and most recently a five-round decision loss to Charles Oliveira in a title challenge at UFC 326 in March. He’s 2-2 in his last four, but the quality of competition has been elite throughout. Holloway is a volume striking machine — 6.91 significant strikes per minute with a 48% landing rate — and his cardio over five rounds is as reliable as anyone’s in the sport.
The fight breaks down simply: McGregor needs to go early, Holloway needs to survive long enough to make it a track meet. The Irishman’s straight left hand at any weight class is a genuine knockout threat, and his reach advantage of 74 inches versus Holloway’s 69 gives him real tools to keep the fight at range where his power is maximized. But if Holloway gets through the first two rounds intact, the fight starts tilting his direction, and hard. Holloway’s blueprint is clear — constant movement, volume accumulation, don’t let McGregor get comfortable and create space for that left hand. The -225 line on Holloway says the market believes a fight that reaches the championship rounds ends one way. The +190 on McGregor says there’s real fear of what that left hand can still do in the right moment.
Full Card Breakdown
- Alessandro Costa (16-5-0) vs. Cody Durden (18-10-1) — Flyweight — Costa opened as a -255 favorite and comes in with more finishing ability in the 125-pound division. Durden is durable and game but has struggled with consistency at this level. Costa’s pressure and submission offense should be the deciding factor if this goes to the ground.
- Ryan Gandra (9-1-0) vs. Zachary Reese (10-3-0) — Middleweight — A developmental middleweight bout between two prospects building their cases. Gandra opened as a -140 favorite with a slight edge in finishing rate. Reese (+120) is live as an underdog but will need to dictate where the fight happens to pull the upset.
- Farid Basharat (15-0-0) vs. TBA — Bantamweight — Ethyn Ewing (10-2) was pulled from this card due to injury, and the UFC scrambled to find a short-notice replacement for the undefeated Basharat. Keep an eye on fight week news for the confirmed opponent. Basharat is a genuine prospect and worth watching however this one shakes out.
- Tracy Cortez (12-3-0) vs. Cong Wang (9-1-0) — Women’s Flyweight — This opened as a pick’em at -110 on both sides, which tells you the models genuinely don’t know. Cortez is a technically sound striker with UFC experience; Wang is an exciting fighter from China with a strong finishing record in regional competition. Coin-flip territory with serious entertainment potential.
- Damian Pinas (9-1-0) vs. Cesar Almeida (7-2-0) — Middleweight — Pinas opened as a -220 favorite, reflecting his upward trajectory as a middleweight prospect. Almeida (+185) has some name recognition but comes in on the back foot in terms of momentum. Pinas should control this one if he gets it to the ground.
- Luke Riley (13-0-0) vs. Kai Kamaka III (18-7-1) — Featherweight — Riley is an undefeated prospect coming in as a -305 favorite. The perfect prelim spot for him to get real Octagon experience against a UFC veteran. Kamaka has been around long enough to be dangerous but is in underdog territory here at +255.
- Cody Garbrandt (15-7-0) vs. Adrian Yanez (17-6-1) — Bantamweight — A fight that tells you everything about where both men are in their careers. Garbrandt, once considered one of the most dangerous strikers in the UFC’s bantamweight history, comes in at +340. Yanez is a -410 favorite — massive juice — with legitimate finishing power of his own. Garbrandt’s chin has become a real liability, and Yanez has the tools to expose it. Watch for an early finish.
- Gable Steveson (3-0-0) vs. Elisha Ellison (5-2-0) — Heavyweight — The two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time NCAA champion makes his UFC debut. See the fighter spotlight section below for the full breakdown. Steveson is a massive -2800 favorite, which is about as close to a foregone conclusion as MMA allows.
- Robert Whittaker (26-9-0) vs. Nikita Krylov (31-11-0) — Light Heavyweight — The former middleweight champion makes his 205-pound debut after years of grinding weight cuts at 185 finally caught up with him. Whittaker has been walking around at 220-225 pounds naturally and says the move feels like a correction, not a retreat. He opened as a -170 favorite over Krylov (+145), whose aggressive submission hunting makes him a legitimate threat to anyone on any given night. This fight has the makings of a sneaky prelim banger. Krylov doesn’t take easy nights off, and Whittaker has elite fundamentals that tend to translate across weight classes.
- King Green (35-17-1) vs. Terrance McKinney (18-8-0) — Lightweight — Green’s record alone tells a story — 53 professional fights, veteran of every kind of MMA experience imaginable. McKinney is a -160 favorite who comes to finish fights and isn’t known for his patience. Green’s experience could be an asset but McKinney’s pace is relentless. Don’t blink in the first round.
- Brandon Royval (17-9-0) vs. Lone’er Kavanagh (10-1-0) — Flyweight — The line here is one of the more interesting on the card: Kavanagh opened at -225 with Royval at +190 — a significant favorite edge for a fighter with just 11 professional bouts against a proven UFC contender. Kavanagh is clearly generating market attention as a prospect worth backing. Royval has been in wars with the best flyweights in the division but has struggled with consistency. Hot prospect versus battle-tested veteran — these are the prelim fights you show up early for.
- Cory Sandhagen (18-6-0) vs. Mario Bautista (17-3-0) — Bantamweight — A rematch seven years in the making. Their first fight was at the inaugural UFC ESPN+ event in January 2019, where Sandhagen submitted Bautista in the first round. A lot has happened since. Sandhagen became a top-three bantamweight and pushed for the title multiple times; Bautista rebuilt himself into a contender, going 9-1 in his last 10 fights with his only recent loss to Umar Nurmagomedov. Sandhagen enters this one needing to rebound after a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili in a title fight at UFC 320. The first fight result has no bearing on this one — the matchup opens at Sandhagen -145, Bautista +125, essentially a pick’em. This is a legitimate main card fight in everything but placement.
- Benoit Saint Denis (17-3-0) vs. Paddy Pimblett (23-4-0) — Lightweight — Saint Denis opens as a -150 favorite with Pimblett at +130, but the line doesn’t capture the stylistic chaos this fight promises. Saint Denis carries elite wrestling, high-level grappling, and a finishing instinct that makes him dangerous in every phase. Pimblett’s calling card is his submission game — he’s made noise all week that if BSD shoots on him, the guillotine is there. Saint Denis, for his part, says he has no intention of shooting. This fight turns on whether Paddy can survive BSD’s pressure on the feet long enough to create submission opportunities from the bottom. The crowd will be behind Pimblett no matter what. Saint Denis doesn’t care about the crowd.
UFC 329 Odds Breakdown
Want the actual picks for this weekend’s card? Check out our full selections at BetMMA.tips/DelinquentMMA — posted ahead of every event.
The headline number at UFC 329 is Holloway at -225 with McGregor at +190, and those lines represent the biggest underdog price of McGregor’s UFC career. Early in the betting cycle, the line was even more lopsided — Holloway as steep as -325 at some books with McGregor near +250 — but public money on the Irishman’s name has compressed the line somewhat. The implied probability on Holloway sits around 69%, which reflects the market’s straightforward read: active, recently tested fighter versus a 37-year-old returning from a five-year layoff with a reconstructed leg. The sharp money has stayed on Holloway throughout the betting cycle. That’s meaningful context.
Elsewhere on the main card, the Kavanagh vs. Royval line stands out. Lone’er Kavanagh opened at -225 with Royval at +190 — striking numbers given that Royval is the far more experienced fighter with multiple ranked victories in the flyweight division. The market is clearly high on Kavanagh as a prospect, and that kind of juice suggests the movement has been consistent rather than reactionary. Sandhagen vs. Bautista sitting near -145/+125 is the most competitive line on the card and probably the fight with the most genuine uncertainty in terms of how it plays out stylistically. Green vs. McKinney at McKinney -160 reflects McKinney’s activity and finish rate more than anything else. And the prelim Gable Steveson line of -2800 is essentially the sportsbooks telling you: the outcome of this particular fight is not the question.
On the prelims, Whittaker at -170 over Krylov is interesting pricing given that Whittaker is essentially debuting at a new weight class. That’s a real unknown. Krylov at +145 isn’t a bad number for a fighter who can finish anyone at 205 when he gets on a roll. The Yanez vs. Garbrandt line at -410 is steep, and it reflects just how far Garbrandt has fallen from his peak — the man who knocked out Dominick Cruz in dominant fashion is now a substantial underdog at a weight class he’s called home for years. As always, full picks for the card are posted at BetMMA.tips/DelinquentMMA ahead of Saturday night. All odds via BetOnline, early fight week.
All odds information is for entertainment and informational purposes only. Bet responsibly and check your local laws and regulations before placing any wagers.
Fighter Spotlight: Gable Steveson
Gable Steveson was always going to end up here. The 25-year-old from Apple Valley, Minnesota won two Olympic gold medals — Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 — and four consecutive NCAA Division I championships at the University of Minnesota, building a freestyle wrestling résumé that put him in serious conversation as one of the greatest amateur wrestlers the country has ever produced. The talent was always obvious. The path to MMA took some detours: a well-publicized WWE developmental deal that never went anywhere meaningful, some NFL exploratory interest, the usual post-Olympic crossroads that elite combat sports athletes face when the Olympics are done. Through it all, the Octagon was always the destination everyone was waiting for him to choose.
He signed with the UFC earlier this year and has built a 3-0 professional record in regional competition before landing this debut slot at International Fight Week. His opponent, Elisha Ellison, is a 5-2 heavyweight who enters as a +1200 underdog against a -2800 favorite — numbers that frame this fight accurately. This isn’t about whether Steveson wins. It’s about how he wins and what the performance tells us about his ceiling. Does he close distance efficiently and control? Does he show comfort on his feet? Does he finish clean, or does he grind? Grappling converts to MMA at different rates depending on the fighter, and the UFC cage has a way of stress-testing every assumption about what translates and what doesn’t. The elite wrestling is real. Everything else is an open question.
The heavyweight division needs stars. The weight class has been searching for a next-generation draw since Francis Ngannou’s departure, and the championship picture has lacked consistent main-event magnetism for a while. Steveson at his ceiling — a physically imposing, explosively athletic heavyweight with elite wrestling and developed striking — could be what 265 pounds has been waiting for. He’s young, he’s undefeated, and he’s fighting on the biggest UFC card of the year in front of an International Fight Week crowd. The pressure is real, the stage is enormous, and Saturday night is his first audition for what could become a very interesting career. How he handles all of it will be the most revealing thing about the performance.
Final Thoughts
Drop your thoughts in the comments — who are you most excited to watch this weekend? For our full card picks ahead of fight night, head over to BetMMA.tips/DelinquentMMA.
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