Daniel Cormier is not hopeful that Conor McGregor returns after UFC 329.
McGregor (22-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) blew out his right knee from the first kick he threw in his main event rematch against Max Holloway (28-9 MMA, 24-9 UFC) Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He tried to fight threw it, but his knee ultimately gave out on him, which prompted the referee to stop the fight just 69 seconds into Round 1.
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A heartbroken McGregor hobbled out of the arena without even changing his clothes. He insists that he did not enter the fight with a pre-existing injury, and his coach John Kavanagh said the same thing. McGregor vows to come back, but that concerns Cormier.
“The question now becomes does Conor McGregor have it in him to come back? That is a big ask,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “It’s big of us to ask Conor McGregor, if his knee is blown out, to go through another year of rehab, another year of the sacrifices, the pain that it takes to work yourself back to a professional mixed martial artist – especially when you have the money that Conor McGregor has. That’s a big ask.
“And if you ask me truthfully, I am more likely to tell you that it’s not going to happen than it will happen. He’s very unique, and I think the whole week showed that he’s the biggest star we have. The whole week showed that. I just wonder if he even does try to come back once again, do people even buy into it again and say they want to see Conor McGregor go at it one more time? It really sucks, as well, because the card itself was insane.”
McGregor competed for the first time in five years after breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He was scheduled to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024, but a broken pinky toe forced him out of the bout. “The Notorious” finds himself sidelined once again in what many are speculating to be a torn ACL.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier doubts people ‘buy into’ another McGregor return after UFC 329
