Charles Oliveira says Conor McGregor’s UFC 329 comeback was planned with him in mind before pivoting to Max Holloway

Charles Oliveira says Conor McGregor’s UFC return fight was “supposed to be against” him, but that McGregor ultimately chose Max Holloway instead. Oliveira’s comments, reported by Yahoo Sports on June 24, frame the UFC 329 matchup selection as a missed opportunity, with Oliveira describing the booking decision as a pivot away from himself rather than a clean, inevitability-based pairing.

Oliveira is speaking as a longtime presence in the UFC lightweight and top-contender conversation. His statement does not change the matchup that fans will see, but it does add friction to a fight-week narrative that often tries to make bookings appear pre-ordained. In Oliveira’s telling, the matchup was at least in discussion before Holloway became the opponent, suggesting that negotiations and matchmaking priorities moved in a different direction than he expected.

The timing matters because McGregor’s return to the octagon typically acts as a shop window for the division around him. When a superstar chooses an opponent, it can influence who gets traction next, who is treated as the “next” challenger, and how promotions sequence title-path fights. Oliveira’s remarks place him in that storyline, not as a random possible opponent but as the one he believed he would face when McGregor came back.

Oliveira’s claim also underscores how UFC matchmaking can be shaped by factors outside a single fighter’s merit or fan appeal. Even when athletes are highly regarded, matchups can be driven by timing windows, stylistic considerations, and business priorities such as marketability and promotional symmetry. Oliveira’s perspective, as reported, is that those considerations eventually landed on Holloway rather than on him.

There is a caveat: Oliveira’s comments are retrospective and represent his interpretation of what “was supposed to be” the plan. The UFC and the fighters involved have their own incentives and preferred narratives, and a statement from one participant does not confirm the full status of negotiations on any date. Without an official explanation or matching statements from McGregor’s camp, the public record remains a matter of competing recollections.

What to watch next is whether the Holloway-McGregor narrative develops into a clearer statement from the UFC on the selection process, or whether Oliveira is given another path to compete for a relevant spot in the lightweight picture after the McGregor return bout. For Oliveira, the immediate question is whether the public positioning he is making now translates into an additional opponent opportunity rather than another round of “near miss” conversation.