LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the octagon lasted barely a minute. The Irish star injured his right leg in the opening seconds of his UFC 329 main event against Max Holloway on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, and the welterweight bout was waved off at 1 minute, 9 seconds of the first round.
Holloway was awarded the TKO victory in a rematch that arrived nearly 13 years after the pair first met — a fight McGregor won despite tearing an ACL. There was no repeat escape this time.
McGregor, 37, charged forward with a jumping kick as the fight opened and landed awkwardly on his right leg. He dropped to his back and absorbed ground strikes from Holloway, made it back to his feet, then fell again while favoring the leg. When he rose a second time, clearly compromised, the referee stepped in and stopped the contest.
Holloway asked for the stoppage
Holloway said he urged the referee to end the fight as soon as he realized what had happened. “When I saw him hurt, I was like, ‘Man, come on. Call this.’ He was done, you know?” he said afterward. “I just wish him a speedy recovery.”
The Hawaiian’s restraint capped a strange fight week in which he was booed at Thursday’s press conference by a Las Vegas crowd firmly behind McGregor — and answered it with the same measured calm he showed once the bout was over.
McGregor left the cage immediately and skipped his post-fight interview. Later on Saturday he addressed the injury on social media, rejecting speculation that he had entered the fight hurt.
“I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight,” McGregor wrote. “This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.”
The stoppage overshadowed a card that otherwise delivered. Paddy Pimblett starred with a submission of Benoit Saint-Denis earlier in the night, and Gable Steveson finished Ellison in the first round of a winning UFC debut.
For McGregor, the defeat was a deflating end to a comeback more than five years in the making. It also raised immediate questions about whether the UFC’s biggest star will attempt another return, and how long his damaged right leg will keep him out this time.