Conor McGregor UFC comeback card change hit with last-minute change due to injury

Dana White has been forced into a change to Conor McGregor's UFC comeback card after a fighter pulled out due to injury.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, former two-weight UFC champion McGregor will make the walk to octagon for the first time in five years.

The Irishman is set to face former foe Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, returning after back-to-back knockout losses to Dustin Poirier in 2021.

As fight night approaches, many fans and pundits will of course be focusing on the main event and how we can expect McGregor to perform after so long away from the sport.

However, the whole card is stacked with plenty of blockbuster bouts, with the likes of Liverpool's Paddy Pimblett and fellow Brits Lone'er Kavanagh and Luke Riley featuring.

And now, another fighter has earned a spot on what could be the biggest card of the year as a late replacement for a fighter on the undercard.

Early on the undercard undefeated fighter Farid Basharat was set to face Ethyn Ewing in a bantamweight bout.

But just last week Ewing was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an undisclosed injury, leaving the UFC and Dana White with only days to find a replacement fighter for Basharat.

And according to a report from MMA journalist Marcel Dorff, that replacement is American bantamweight John Garza who will make his UFC debut on just one week's notice.

Garza is just seven fights into his pro MMA career, with six wins and one loss.

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The 23-year-old made his MMA debut with Texas-based promotion Xtreme Knockout in February 2024 and his since fought for several promotions ahead of making the jump to the UFC.

'Mowgli' suffered his only professional defeat in his second fight, losing via second round knockout to Gilberto Melara.

He will head into the fight with Basharat as a massive underdog but has the chance to steal the show and announce himself to UFC fans in one of the first fights of the McGregor card.

Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway backup fighter confirmed

The news comes after UFC lightweight contender Mauricio Ruffy confirmed that he is the backup fighter for McGregor v Holloway this weekend.

This means that the Brazilian will be required to step in in the event of a pull-out.

“Hey guys, you know I made myself available for the Conor McGregor fight and Max Holloway,” he said.

“I’m going on a trip to Las Vegas. I took good care of myself. These guys made me train halfway through my vacation.”

“We are going to travel now to Vegas on Monday and let’s see what happens,” Ruffy added. “Me against Conor McGregor, I believe, would be a very good fight... I believe it would be a really cool fight against Max Holloway.”

Ruffy has an impressive professional record of 14-2, with wins over Green, Rafael Fiziev with a knockout win over Michael Chandler in his last bout on the White House card.

His only UFC defeat came against Benoit Saint-Denis, who faces Paddy Pimblett this weekend, in September 2025.