UFC 329: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2 Preview Show | Is the Mac Truly Back?

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**Mike Heck** (1:05)
You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
It is hot out here in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the action has been heating up all week long here in Las Vegas. The MAC is back. Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon for the first time in five years, taking on Max Holloway in a rematch in the main event of UFC 329 We're here to preview some of the big storylines and talk about what a crazy week it has been in Sin City. I am Mike Heck. That is the great José Youngs. And I have to ask you this right off the bat, José, because you're our boots on the ground for every major UFC event. You were at the White House. You've been to UFC 328 You saw Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett get after it. How big does this feel compared to most of the events? I know it's tough to top the White House, but comparing just a numbered event with a lot of the other numbered events of the past few years, how big does this feel?

**José Youngs** (1:57)
It didn't feel big until today at ceremonials. The T-Mobile Arena was just about at capacity. Even the upper levels are pretty filled. So today is the first real day, I feel like. It felt like a Conor McGregor fight week.
Media Day wasn't anything different. I think maybe because we're not doing one-on-ones with him anymore, we didn't get the partner access complex, and everyone did, so we only really got to talk to Conor once. The media room was as busy as it's ever been, probably right on par with the White House. The White House obviously felt bigger because of UFC X and the Ellipse and the Claw and the fact that it was on the White House and there was so much non-MMA media there. I would probably compare Fight Week to the first Paramount card, not as heated as Hamza Strickland because of Hamza Strickland, kind of comparable to the BMF fight, but as of now that the ceremonial is just wrapped behind us, it finally does feel like a Conor McGregor Fight Week.

**Mike Heck** (2:46)
Yeah, Wednesday, as you mentioned, the media day was kind of subdued, right? Because that was the first time Conor had taken part in a media day like that. Yesterday, at the press conference, things started to ramp up a little bit. We got some of the greatest hits, and I actually felt like this was a great version of Conor McGregor, because we got some of the old school, we didn't get Dustin 2, we certainly didn't get Dustin 3
We found the higher ground between the two, and I thought that was great. It seemed like it ramped up. I had concerns about Conor McGregor, but after the press conference, things started to turn for me a little bit more that we were going back. I don't know how that's got to translate into the octagon, at least the Conor with the vision and his eyes and the intensity. That was definitely there on Thursday, and you definitely saw it again here today.

**José Youngs** (3:27)
Yeah, a little bit. It just, I feel like he really, I feel like, underneath like all the trash talk that Conor's been doing, like you won't lay a hand on me. I sunned you. You're not gonna like, there's not a world you'll drown me. Like, we know Conor likes Max as like a person, and he respects Max.
This is a fight that like the fans want, and I think Conor's, you know, taking these fights for a very specific reason. So the heat's not there like in the last Dustin fight, and clearly not the Habib fight. The story of Conor coming back against Cowboy was there, kind of because it was his first fight since Habib and Mayweather and everything. So that story was there. This feels like Conor is more speaking to the fans than at Max, if that makes sense. It's not like he's talking trash. So yeah, he was, I won't say he was in rare form or vintage Conor form at the press conference, but it would definitely, the glimpses were there. Like some of it leaked out for sure.