Max Holloway won’t rule out sticking at welterweight after UFC 329, but keeps door open to bigger picture

Max Holloway says he is open to doing more than just surviving his UFC 329 moment at welterweight. The former UFC featherweight champion is stepping into a 170-pound matchup against Conor McGregor, and while Holloway expects to learn a lot from the fight, he also suggested he is not willing to say “never” to future options at multiple weight classes.

The immediate focus is Saturday night’s welterweight headliner, where McGregor makes his return to the Octagon after a long absence. Holloway’s perspective, as he discussed it in the run-up, is that the sport’s biggest opportunities can come from being flexible, not fixed. In that framing, Holloway treated UFC 329 as more than a single bout. He described it as a turning point he will evaluate once the fight is done.

Holloway’s comments connect to how he has recently moved through divisions. He has been active at lightweight in three of his past four fights, with notable results that included defending the BMF title against Dustin Poirier before losing that belt to Charles Oliveira. With UFC 329 placing him at 170 pounds for the first time, Holloway characterized the change as a question that can only be answered by what happens in the cage.

When asked about what the fight could mean for a future path, Holloway referenced the possibility of Islam Makhachev in a way that landed less like a firm plan and more like a recognition of how the UFC’s title picture can pull fighters toward matchups. He said a fight with Makhachev would be “pretty sick,” while also emphasizing that he does not want to commit to predictions before he has even seen how this weight class adjustment plays out.

In the same discussion, Holloway also showed that he understands how fans and observers connect the dots. Many people, he noted, assume that the winner of his matchup could end up in a different direction afterward, including toward a fight at 155 pounds. Holloway did not challenge that thinking directly. Instead, he said he does not know what is going on with the promotion’s plans and pointed to how the UFC has a pattern of reshuffling expectations.

He also addressed the age-old conversation around the size difference between weight classes. Holloway’s stance was blunt, saying that “weight is nothing but a number.” He treated the physical shift as something his team will handle and something he will feel only once he is inside the welterweight framework for a full fight, not as a reason to pre-decide what comes after.

For the UFC, Holloway’s openness matters because it changes the range of matchups that can be drawn on short notice. If Holloway performs well at 170, the promotion gains a credible candidate who can plausibly move between divisions without looking like a gimmick. If he struggles, his comments still provide a roadmap: he can return to lightweight with a better sense of what welterweight would require, rather than guessing from outside the cage.