The Mac is back.

Conor McGregor returns to the octagon for the first time in over five years. Whilst his legacy as a personality has taken damage during this lay-off, there is no doubting the impact he has left on the sport.

It’s familiar territory in terms of opponent, as he faces Max Holloway for the second time in the early hours of Sunday morning. The two first met at the UFC Fight Night event back in August 2013, where both fighters were on the come-up.

McGregor was victorious on the judges’ scorecards that night, but I can’t see a similar outcome at UFC 329.

To put it bluntly, Conor McGregor has won just one fight in the last eight years (against an over-the-hill Donald Cerrone), and combined with a five-year layoff, his body will not be able to adjust.

Doubters will say Holloway is 1-2 in his last three, including his first KO loss to Ilia Topuria, but in the time since McGregor last won UFC gold, Holloway himself picked up a UFC title at 145 lbs, and has cemented himself as a fan favourite and UFC Hall of Famer.

McGregor has two fights left on his UFC deal, which means two big paydays. He’s past his best, and Holloway should win at a canter here.

Now this is a very interesting co-main event.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ returns after coming up short in his UFC interim title fight loss to Justin Gaethje back in January (a loss that has aged pretty well in the last month).

The company has strapped the rocket to Pimblett in terms of promotion, which is something that can’t be said about his opponent on Sunday morning, Benoit Saint Denis.

Frenchman Saint Denis has been a mainstay in the lightweight rankings over the past few years and is currently on a four-fight win streak, all of which are by finish.

Pimblett has exceeded a lot of people’s expectations during this UFC run. Many found it crazy that he would even be given a championship shot. He was priced as the heavy favourite against Gaethje and came up short, and I’m surprised to see BSD priced this well to win against Pimblett.

The issue with Pimblett is his experience against top-level competitors. That’s not his fault; that’s just reality. BSD has finished Dan Hooker, Beneil Dariush, and Mauricio Ruffy in his last three fights alone. He has just had to bide his time until the UFC deems him commercially worthy enough to carry a big division at 155.

At this price, it’s hard to go against a fighter who is on a roll and has finished some stiff competition. Saint Denis should take a big step toward a title shot here.

Two of the most underrated 135ers also feature on Sunday’s main event card.

This one is very difficult to call in terms of the result. Sandhagen is a mainstay in the top five, and Bautista has proven himself incredibly tough to break down, with his only loss in his last ten coming to Umar Nurmagomedov.

I feel this is very much a case of two fighters cancelling each other out. Sandhagen will utilise his reach to keep the fight at a distance, and Bautista will look to take it into the clinch and take the fight to the ground.

I like the odds for this fight to go to the judges’ scorecards. Five of Bautista’s last six have gone the distance, and four of Sandhagen’s last five have done the same.

There isn’t much room for error in what could be a number-one-contender fight. Expect it to go the full 15 minutes here.

Robert Whittaker makes the walk in what will be his third weight class in his UFC run as he looks to make his light heavyweight debut against the experienced Nikita Krylov.

Former middleweight champion Whittaker accomplished everything he could have at 185, and became a fan favourite with his ‘fight anyone’ attitude. After all, this is a man who has TWO wins over a prime Yoel Romero.

Krylov has once again delivered a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ pace in what is now his second UFC run. A win over Modestas Bukauskas last time out put a halt to a two-fight losing run, and this feels a generous matchup in Whittaker’s favour.

Whittaker is coming off two losses. A brutal submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev and a razor-thin split decision loss to Reinier de Ridder, but at 35, it feels like he still can make a run at 205.

The size difference may raise questions, but Whittaker has overcome bigger obstacles than Nikita Krylov.