Sports
Conor McGregor makes long-awaited return vs. Max Holloway at UFC 329
Jan 23, 2021; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Conor McGregor of Ireland punches Dustin Poirier in a lightweight fight during the UFC 257 event inside Etihad Arena on UFC Fight Island. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari/Handout Photo via Imagn Images Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon for the first time in five years when he faces Max Holloway in a five-round welterweight main event on Saturday night at UFC 329, closing out International Fight Week at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
McGregor (22-6 MMA) has not competed since sustaining a broken tibia against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 and has faced several personal setbacks outside of the UFC.
The former two-division champion at featherweight and lightweight was originally scheduled to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024 to conclude their Ultimate Fighter 31 rivalry after the show aired in 2023. However, a McGregor toe injury forced a postponement and the match was never rescheduled.
McGregor, 37, returns to the welterweight division for the first time in six years. The Irishman is looking to re-establish himself as a title contender while attempting to defeat Holloway for the second time, following a unanimous decision victory over him in Aug. 2013 at a UFC Fight Night event in Boston in McGregor’s second UFC fight.
McGregor said he is grateful for the opportunity to reinvigorate his career and has no immediate plans to change weight divisions after the Holloway rematch.
“The OG champ-champ, coming for the triple crown,” McGregor told reporters at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference. “Sounds like a hell of a story to me.”
Holloway (27-9 MMA) is making his official welterweight debut after a historic run at 145 and 155 pounds over the last decade-plus.
Following the loss of his “BMF” title to former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 in March, Holloway, 34, hops to avenge the loss to McGregor and immediately enter the 170-pound title picture should he opt not to return to lightweight.
“We’re gonna find out Saturday night,” Holloway said in response to McGregor’s claim that he won’t “lay a glove” on him.
McGregor said he was not pleased with Holloway’s “disrespectful” comments about offering a potential December rematch, ensuring it won’t be needed.
In response, Holloway fired back, igniting the rivalry even further.
“I’m drowning his ass,” Holloway said.
In the co-main event at lightweight, fifth-ranked Benoit Saint Denis of France faces No. 9 Paddy Pimblett of England in a critical contender fight to help determine who might fight champion Justin Gaethje in the near future.
Saint Denis (17-3 MMA) aims to use his high-level grappling to stall the momentum of Pimblett (23-4 MMA), who enters the fight seeking the highest-ranked victory of his UFC career thus far. In the main event of UFC 324 in January, Pimblett fell short of an interim title, taking a decision loss to Gaethje, who beat Ilia Topuria to become undisputed champion at UFC Freedom 250 in June.
Bantamweights will feature in a high-stakes title eliminator as Cory Sandhagen meets Mario Bautista. Sandhagen (18-6 MMA) looks to secure another title shot with a win, while Bautista (17-3 MMA) seeks the signature win of his career, having won nine of his last 10 fights.
In a fight between two rising flyweight contenders, former title challenger Brandon Royval will test the durability of England’s Lone’er Kavanagh. Royval (17-9 MMA) aims to defend his No. 4 ranking against the fifth-ranked contender, Kavanagh (10-1 MMA), who has built a reputation as a dangerous finisher, with five of his wins coming by KO/TKO or submission.
Veteran lightweight King Green takes on Terrance McKinney to open the Paramount Plus main card. Green (35-17, 1 NC MMA) will try to utilize his boxing-heavy attack against the explosive McKinney (18-8 MMA), who has finished eight UFC victories inside the first round.
The main card gets underway at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Plus.
Main card (subject to change):
–Welterweight main event: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway (Five rounds, non-title)
–Lightweight co-main event: Benoit Saint Denis vs. Paddy Pimblett
–Bantamweight: Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista
–Flyweight: Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanagh
–Lightweight: King Green vs. Terrance McKinney
–Field Level Media
Sports
Twins' Alan Roden, in season debut, delivers walk-off hit vs. Guardians
Jul 8, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins right fielder Alan Roden (18) hits a single against the Cleveland Guardians in the fourth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Alan Roden delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning in his season debut, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 6-5 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Roden finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs one day after Minnesota promoted him from Triple-A Saint Paul. Kody Clemens went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Twins, who increased their winning streak to four games.
Brayan Rocchio homered and drove in three runs for the Guardians, who took their fourth loss in a row. Rhys Hoskins added a solo home run.
Twins reliever Yoendrys Gomez (1-0) earned the victory with a scoreless inning of relief. Gomez notched his 10th save one night earlier as the Twins won the series opener 3-1.
Guardians reliever Matt Festa (2-2) allowed one run on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Roden provided the heroics on the ninth pitch of his at-bat with two outs in the ninth. He ripped a deep line drive off the wall in right-center field to score Royce Lewis for the win. Clemens walked leading off the inning, Alex Jackson singled with two outs, and Luke Keaschall walked to load the bases and bring up Roden.
Cleveland started the scoring with three runs in the top of the fourth.
Chase DeLauter led off the inning with a single, and Rocchio followed two pitches later with a two-run, 401-foot homer to left. Two pitches after that, Hoskins belted a 383-foot solo shot to left to make it 3-0.
Minnesota responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to even the score.
The Twins loaded the bases with no outs for Lewis, who drew a walk to bring home the team’s first run. Keaschall drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly to center, and Roden made it 3-all with an RBI single to center in the next at-bat.
The Guardians regained the lead with two runs in the seventh.
DeLauter started the scoring with an RBI single to right to drive in Kahlil Watson. Rocchio made it 5-3 as he laid down a sacrifice bunt and Steven Kwan sprinted home.
Erratic pitching cost the Guardians in the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Erik Sabrowski issued back-to-back walks with the bases loaded, to Brooks Lee and Clemens, allowing the Twins to even the score at 5-all.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angels end seven-game skid with offensive outburst at Rangers
Jul 8, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell celebrates after he hits a three run home run against the Texas Rangers during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. Jo Adell hit two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs as the Los Angeles Angels snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 13-1 rout of the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night in Arlington, Tex.
Vaughn Grissom had four hits and four RBIs and Mike Trout homered in his return off the injured list as well for the Angels.
It was the 10th multi-home run game of Adell’s career. Zach Neto went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Denzer Guzman doubled and had two hits. Jose Siri had two hits and an RBI. Josh Lowe also scored twice for Los Angeles, which finished with 15 hits.
Trout, sidelined since June 18 with a right hamstring injury, went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs and two runs scored while playing DH.
Samy Natera Jr. (1-0) picked up his first major league victory in relief of Walbert Urena, striking out five of the six batters he faced during two perfect innings. Urena gave up only a third-inning single to left by Josh Smith, who was thrown out at second by Lowe trying to stretch it into a double.
Kyle Higashioka homered for Texas, which finished with just three hits. MacKenzie Gore (5-8) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Neto led off with a double into the left field corner and scored one out later on Grissom’s single to center.
Adell extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth with a two-run opposite field homer to right, driving in Grissom, who had singled.
The Angels then broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by a 433-foot three-run homer to left-center by Adell.
Grissom extended the lead to 9-0 in the sixth with a two-run double. Trout, celebrating the 15-year anniversary of his major league debut, made it 11-0 with a two-run homer in the eighth, a 438-foot drive to left.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Nyles Morgan motivated to lead Redblacks to first win vs. Elks
Jun 7, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; BC Lions wide receiver Jevon Cottoy (86) runs the ball against Edmonton Elks linebacker Nyles Morgan (45) and defensive back Tyrell Ford (30) second half at BC Place Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images Ottawa middle linebacker Nyles Morgan and the Redblacks look for their first win of the season when they visit his former team on Thursday night in Edmonton.
Morgan, who played for the Elks from 2021-25, leads the CFL in total tackles (31) and tackles for loss (three) despite the rough start for Ottawa (0-4).
The Redblacks have dropped 10 in a row dating back to last season, and they are off to their worst start since opening 0-6 in 2022.
Morgan, 29, registered seven tackles in a 29-21 season-opening home loss to Edmonton on June 6. The Notre Dame product told the Ottawa Citizen this week he is satisfied with his individual play to this point.
“I would say, yeah, so far,” Morgan said. “I’ve been adapting well to my new defense and my new teammates, and I’ve been doing really well so far.”
Returning to his old stomping grounds Thursday, Morgan admitted he is motivated to put on a strong performance against the Elks (3-1).
“After working somewhere for so long and kind of getting tossed aside due to injury, or just by a new regime that doesn’t appreciate you, it would definitely light a fire under anybody, I would say,” Morgan said.
He will face an Edmonton team coming off its first loss of the season, a 36-24 setback against the B.C. Lions on July 4 in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Cody Fajardo passed for 395 yards against the Lions but offset three touchdown passes with three interceptions. The Elks also coughed up a fumble and were outgained 162-24 on the ground.
“Our brand of football is running the football, and they had a good plan for us and they stopped us,” Fajardo said on 880 CHED. “We’re one of the No. 1 teams in the league running the ball. When you stop us in the run, it just makes it difficult because it takes us out of our game plan a little bit.”
In the Week 1 meeting between these teams at Ottawa, Justin Rankin’s back-breaking, 61-yard touchdown run gave the Elks a 26-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. He finished with 102 yards on 13 carries.
Jake Maier threw for 203 yards and a touchdown and Daniel Adeboboye rushed for 87 yards and a score to lead the Redblacks.
–Field Level Media
Twins' Alan Roden, in season debut, delivers walk-off hit vs. Guardians
Angels end seven-game skid with offensive outburst at Rangers
