UFC 329: Conor McGregor’s injury spells a disappointing end to his chance at redemption
LAS VEGAS – If his man “Mystic Mac” could see the future as clearly as he did in his UFC championship victory, Conor McGregor would not have made the decision to return after a five-year layoff and a catastrophic injury.
But McGregor’s extra-sensory perception, like his toughness inside the Octagon, isn’t what it used to be for the biggest star in MMA history.
McGregor (22-7), who turns 38 on Tuesday, almost jumped out of the gates on Saturday in his long-awaited return to headline UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in a welterweight rematch with Max Holloway. The Irish megastar slipped on a running kick attempt in the opening second of the fight before succumbing to an injured right knee 69 seconds into the first-round TKO loss.
For an aging legend whose name has been known outside the Octagon for the past decade without the nickname “Notorious”, McGregor’s attempts to play hits on the microphone during the week of the fight, to preach the story of religious reform or to shave his head in a last-minute mohawk proved ineffective (and a desperate Father).
This wasn’t a resurgence of the broken leg that forced him out of his 2021 trilogy against Dustin Poirier during his last visit to the Octagon. That was the left leg. And the latest setback — a suspected torn ACL, per UFC CEO and president Dana White — may have been more bad luck (though it certainly came with an ill-advised strike attempt) than McGregor’s fault, let alone a bitter pill to swallow.
But for good measure, video from the Paramount+ broadcast of him entering the Octagon screening area before the fight began, showed McGregor favoring his right leg as he limped after stepping out of his shoes, which could suggest a pre-existing injury (although White strongly doubted it in the post-fight press conference).
McGregor also briefly addressed the topic on social media after the fight.
Either way, McGregor’s fighting future is still very much in doubt even though he told the media this week that he plans to fight, one way or another, forever. And the disappointing end to the comeback that produced the biggest gate in UFC history was, in many ways, a microcosm of the second half of McGregor’s career.
In his first three years and seven months as a UFC fighter, beginning in 2013, McGregor won nine of ten fights, set professional records, avenged his lone loss to Nate Diaz by winning a welterweight fight in five rounds and became the first simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history. in 11 months.
But in the 10 years since he took an extended hiatus from the UFC with the birth of his first child and a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, McGregor is still 1-4 in the Octagon with four losses, two career-threatening injuries and a 40-second squash with CerneCoold that died badly.
A string of false comebacks, involving a lot of hurrying and waiting, has dominated much of the past five years, including a disappointing withdrawal from the 2024 fight against Michael Chandler during International Fight Week just 16 days after pulling out of UFC 303 due to a broken toe that led to speculation that McGregor was just waiting for an excuse to pull out an excuse.
But McGregor’s long layoff career was more than injury and recovery. He flaunted what appeared to be an everyday life of partying on social media most of the time and saw his character take a nosedive following ongoing legal troubles, including a rape conviction in his 2025 Ireland decision.
Not only did McGregor change as a person when he made a fortune as a wrestler and whiskey salesman, he cheated the sport and his legacy by defying his almost insane fighting prowess, drive and confidence. And with a career loaded with viral moments and an undeniable core of Hall-of-Fame achievements in his prime, the second half of his career has been mistreated.
Each McGregor return to MMA after his one-time boxing career (the richest fight in the history of the sport) produced a diminished or disturbed version of his former electric and powerful self. And years of partying and training have broken down his body to the point that “puncher’s chance” is the best case scenario if injury doesn’t put him first.
In an unsettling moment during Wednesday’s media day scrum, McGregor admitted he fell into the trap of fame and money after 2016 and blamed the responsibilities he once had as head of his whiskey company “Proper No. 12” for letting alcohol damage his personal and professional life.
The problem is that McGregor’s week-long display of quoting his Bible verse on evolution began to sound like a useful tool, if not a deliberate distraction, to any discourse surrounding his multiple arrests and allegations of sexual assault. There was very little acknowledgment of his past transgressions or the responsibility he had taken. And the fruits of his labor as a professional over the past ten years were not enough to satisfy any hope of a car wash with a good reputation for an emotional upset victory in front of his wife and four children.
McGregor’s body eventually betrayed him in the same way that his wrongdoings threatened to overshadow just how much of a hero he really was.
