The main event of UFC 329 carried major stakes for Conor McGregor, who was making his first Octagon appearance in five years. The bout with Max Holloway could have positioned McGregor among top contenders or represented his final fight under his UFC contract, the report said.
McGregor announced Sunday that he tore his right ACL and meniscus during a flying kick attempt seconds into the fight. He attempted to continue, but the referee stopped the contest less than a minute later and Holloway was awarded a TKO victory.
The injured right leg is the second non-contact or awkward injury to end a McGregor fight early in five years. McGregor had not fought since July 2021, when he broke his left tibia and fibula after taking an awkward step backward in the first round of a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier. He also withdrew from a scheduled 2024 return against Michael Chandler after fracturing his left pinky toe during training.
Inconclusive results for high-profile fights have appeared several times in the five years between McGregor’s leg injuries, the report noted. Examples include the UFC 323 co-main event on Dec. 6, 2025, when Alexandre Pantoja exited the title fight 26 seconds in after sustaining an arm injury; Joshua Van was declared the winner and new flyweight champion by TKO. Van later defended the title against Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 in May.
The list of anticlimactic endings also includes championship fights that ended without a victor and a headline bout that was ruled a no-contest. The McGregor injury now leaves his immediate future uncertain: he has said he will undergo surgery in the near future and expressed a desire to fight again next year, but questions remain about his post-surgery recovery timeline.
