{"id":744873,"date":"2026-06-18T17:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744873\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:01:08","slug":"makhachev-vs-garry-official-mcgregor-comeback-set-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744873\/","title":{"rendered":"Makhachev vs. Garry Official, McGregor Comeback Set for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Islam Makhachev will face Ian Machado Garry in a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.com\/division\/lightweight\/\" class=\"internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash\/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lightweight<\/a> bout that has been officially booked, MMA Fighting reports, marking one of several major developments emerging from the UFC White House event and its aftermath.<\/p>\n<p>The matchup pairs the reigning lightweight champion against the surging <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.com\/division\/welterweight\/\" class=\"internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash\/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">welterweight<\/a> contender in what represents a significant step up in competition for Garry. Makhachev has been searching for fresh challengers since clearing out much of the 155-pound division, while Garry brings an undefeated record and finishing ability that has made him one of the promotion&#8217;s rising stars.<\/p>\n<p>White House Event Sparks McGregor Return Talk<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.com\/fighter\/conor-mcgregor\/\" class=\"internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash\/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Conor McGregor<\/a>&#8216;s comeback is reportedly gaining momentum following the UFC White House card, according to the MMA Fighting report. The former two-division champion has been on the sidelines for an extended period, and multiple sources suggest his return could materialize later in 2026. McGregor has not competed since suffering a leg injury, though he has remained active on social media and in promotional appearances.<\/p>\n<p>The UFC White House event itself delivered several talking points beyond the Makhachev-Garry announcement. <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.com\/fighter\/justin-gaethje\/\" class=\"internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash\/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Justin Gaethje<\/a> scored what the report characterized as one of the most impressive upsets in recent memory, while Alex Pereira is said to have expressed frustration over Ciryl Gane&#8217;s victory against him. Josh Hokit went viral during the event, though not for positive reasons, according to the coverage.<\/p>\n<p>MMA Fighting&#8217;s Jed Meshew addressed the developments in a live viewer Q&amp;A session that covered the White House fallout and upcoming matchups. The Makhachev-Garry fight has no confirmed date yet, though the booking alone signals the UFC&#8217;s intention to keep the <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.com\/division\/lightweight\/\" class=\"internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash\/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lightweight<\/a> title picture active heading into the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"image-credit\">Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Islam_Makhachev_and_Sergey_Melikov_2025_(cropped).jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\" rel=\"license nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CC BY 3.0<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sources-heading\">Original reporting:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev will face Ian Machado Garry in a lightweight bout that has been officially booked, MMA Fighting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-744873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}