Former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor will be making his Octagon return against Max Holloway atop the UFC 329 fight card this Sat. night (July 11) in Las Vegas. A second win over the Hawaiian will get “Notorious” right back into the thick of things and resurrect a career that has been on ice (and a few other things) since summer 2021.
Paddy Pimblett will be waiting.
“The perfect fight for me would be Conor,” Pimblett said. “It’s mad to be honest because I think … obviously I won seven fights
in a row and I don’t think that my stock went up as much as losing my last fight. You know, I beat people like Michael Chandler, Bobby Green, Tony Ferguson and people are just like, meh, and then I’ve got me head punched in five rounds and my stock went up. I lost but my stock went up because I had a five-round war with a legend like Justin Gaethje but I want that back, you know what I mean? I want to fight him again before he retires. It’s time to get back in the win column.”
Pimblett will also compete at UFC 329, going to war with fellow lightweight contender Benoit Saint Denis in the Paramount+ co-main event. Like McGregor, a highlight-reel finish will go a long way in erasing “The Baddy’s” last performance, a five-round ass whooping at the hands of newly-crowned lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
“Benoit moved above me in the rankings for beating Dan Hooker which I thought was quite silly because Dan Hooker’s terrible,” Pimblett added. “He went above me for beating Dan Hooker so I thought that’s the perfect fight. I’m [ranked] six, he’s five. I think I’m better than him everywhere the fight goes. I’ll prove that on July 11th. Mad being on the same card as Conor McGregor, you know what I mean? The biggest name in the sport. It’s nice for him to be back. This is probably going to be the most watched UFC of all time. I’m not going to be the star of the show on this one, definitely not. Conor is, but I’ll probably be the second star of the show.”
Naturally, none of this matters unless both McGregor (22-6) and Pimblett (23-4) emerge victorious.
“If McGregor wins and I win, I want to fight again before the end of the year,” Pimblett said. “I’ll fight him at welterweight in MSG, something like that. We’ve got to let everything unfold, you don’t know what’s going to happen. Conor’s got to beat Max, I’ve got to beat BSD. Anything can happen. As we know, fighting sports, one punch, anything can change the whole realm of the game. It can change the butterfly effect, it can change everything for every other opponent.”
To see who else is fighting at UFC 329 on Paramount+ click here.
