Max Holloway is already shopping for the next massive thing after UFC 329, and shockingly, the man is not asking for a quiet little tune-up in the corner. Holloway said he is open to a title shot at lightweight, a title shot at welterweight, or another Conor McGregor fight, all while leaning on the same BMF aura that made his Justin Gaethje clash at UFC 300 feel like a pay-per-view fever dream before the cage door even closed.
Holloway first laid out the three routes in a longer video from his own channel:
🚨 Max Holloway wants his next fight to either be a 155/170 title shot, or a Conor McGregor rematch
“If it’s Conor next year, great. I got a win at 170… I got history with the 155 champ… if it’s a title shot at either weight class, sign your boy up. If it’s a Conor McGregor fight again, I’ll sign the dotted line.”
(via @BlessedMMA)
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 21, 2026
“What’s next for me is the question that people have been asking me, and to be quite honest, I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you. We see Conor out there calling for me, wanting to be next year. I’m down for that, but I don’t know what UFC wants. I’m gonna be here. I’m gonna be ready. I’m gonna go get back in the gym.”
“But if it’s Conor next year, great. If it’s a title shot at some type of weight class, great. I got a win at 170. The 170 champ—or the 170 champ’s team—is not liking what I said, which just blew my mind because I wasn’t being disrespectful. I just was kind of caught off guard about the situation.”
“If it’s there, I got history with the 155 champ, and I know that he probably wants to get that one back. So if it’s a title shot at either weight class, sign your boy up. If it’s a Conor McGregor fight again, I sign the dotted line.”
In a separate clip, Holloway went beyond the matchmaking options and explained exactly what he meant by the McGregor “money belt”:
Max Holloway says he’ll ‘sign the dotted line’ if he’s offered a title shot at either lightweight or welterweight, or another fight with McGregor:
“If it’s a title shot, in either weight classes, sign ya boy up. If it’s a Conor McGregor fight again, I’ll sign the dotted line.
UFC, I’m owed the Conor McGregor belt, the money belt so you guys gotta send me that.”
(via @BlessedMMA)
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 21, 2026
“Talking about belts, I’m owed the UFC—I’m owed the Conor McGregor belt, the money belt. So you guys gotta send me that because I really don’t want to go to UFC.com and buy my own and walk around and be that guy, you know?”
“So, at the end of the day, send me my belt. I did it. I won it. It is what it is.”
Those are options, not announced bookings. Holloway said he does not know what the UFC wants, but he is willing to sign for McGregor again or for a championship fight at lightweight or welterweight.
Holloway Lays Out Three Paths: 155, 170, Or McGregor
The whole thing hits because Holloway is not floating fantasy matchmaking from the cheap seats. His UFC 329 win over McGregor moved him into a different kind of conversation, even if the finish came with the strange cruelty of McGregor suffering a knee injury early. Holloway still got his hand raised, still got the rivalry back on the board, and still walked away with the kind of name value that makes matchmakers start sweating through their polos.
The lightweight path is obvious. Holloway has history around that division, owns one of the coldest BMF moments the sport has ever produced, and remains tied to title talk because his Gaethje knockout never stopped echoing. Gaethje later admitted Holloway was precise and perfect against him, which is the kind of opponent review that tends to age better than any rankings argument.
The welterweight angle is even spicier because Islam Makhachev has the division in a headlock after UFC 330. Holloway has already jabbed at the broader two-belt conversation, and a move to 170 would be a wild swing even by Blessed standards. It is also exactly the sort of wild swing that keeps Holloway relevant across three different weight-class conversations at once.
McGregor is the obvious bank vault, though. Holloway and McGregor have been connected since their 2013 meeting, and the UFC 329 rematch gave the rivalry a bizarre second chapter instead of a clean ending. A trilogy would sell itself before anyone even finished the poster, especially with McGregor rehabbing and Holloway now joking that he wants a belt named after the money fight.
That is the real play here. Holloway is not begging for one route. He is making the UFC pick which expensive problem it wants to solve first. Title shot, McGregor trilogy, lightweight jump, welterweight madness, it all keeps him in the middle of the conversation while the rest of the contenders argue over rankings. And after the way this latest clip moved, the UFC has to decide whether Holloway is getting another money fight or another chance to add to the legend that started roaring again when Dana White booked Holloway against Gaethje in the first place.
