{"id":777762,"date":"2026-07-04T03:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777762\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T03:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:36:10","slug":"is-max-holloway-vs-justin-gaethje-2-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777762\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Max Holloway Vs. Justin Gaethje 2 Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Max Holloway has a stiff test ahead of him as he welcomes Conor McGregor back to the Octagon next weekend at UFC 329, but if \u201cBlessed\u201d is victorious he could line himself up for a rematch with current UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Next weekend is one of the biggest events of the year and for good reason. It will mark the return of McGregor as \u201cNotorious\u201d has been sidelined for the past five years due to injury and other out-of-cage issues. There were a handful of names that UFC matchmakers were discussing for McGregor\u2019s high-profile comeback, but they ultimately settled on Holloway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">After all, Holloway has history with McGregor and he\u2019s easily one of the biggest fan favorites on the UFC roster today. It just made sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">While Holloway will get his chance to avenge a 2013 loss to McGregor (watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/453538\/rewind-watch-conor-mcgregor-max-holloway-full-fight-marathon-ahead-of-ufc-329-rematch-video\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>) and score his biggest career payday in the process, he could also line himself up for a lightweight title shot with a UFC 329 victory. That\u2019s because Gaethje will be front and center for Holloway\u2019s rematch with McGregor and may end up scheduling his first title defense against the winner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That adds extra motivation for Holloway, who is ready for whatever UFC matchmakers throw his way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cAt the end of the day, that fight of course it\u2019s right there,\u201d Holloway told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/ufc\/497345\/max-holloway-responds-to-justin-gaethjes-comments-about-potential-rematch-after-beating-ilia-topuria-at-ufc-white-house\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s dangling right in front of him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI\u2019m focused on doing what I\u2019ve got to do, get my hand raised in great fashion come July 11. Whatever way the UFC wants to go, we go. UFC\u2019s crazy. Look at the fights they put on, look at what they\u2019re able to do. If you told me I was going to fight Conor McGregor after my last fight, you\u2019re crazy but we\u2019re here now. Days away. I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Holloway has a stiff test ahead of him as he welcomes Conor McGregor back to the Octagon&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-777762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777762","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=777762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}