Max Holloway evened the score with Conor McGregor at UFC 329. Yet the win didn’t come as cleanly as anyone expected.
Returning from a five-year absence from competition, McGregor, 37, spent only 69 seconds in the Octagon in his rematch with Holloway on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With his opening jumping switch kick, McGregor appeared to suffer a serious knee injury, compromising his performance for the brief remainder of the fight. Holloway, 34, scored the stoppage when McGregor stepped back and lifted his injured knee in visible pain.
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Holloway spoke at the UFC 329 post-fight press conference to react to the anticlimactic rematch.
“I had the man weak in the knees, I guess,” Holloway said. “All jokes aside, I just hope he’s good. I know Conor’s been battling some stuff. [It] looked like he’d really been changing. He found God, he had his kids in there. So, during the fight, you could obviously tell his demeanor changed.
“Shoutout to the ref [Mike Beltran] — I was trying to tell the ref sooner. This guy’s kids are front row. I don’t want to see him take unnecessary damage. You’ve got to stop the fight.”
Conor McGregor injured himself immediately against at UFC 329. (Esther Lin, Uncrowned)
(Esther Lin)
“But this is how crazy Conor is,” Holloway continued. “The first time he was on the ground he was like, ‘Fight, fight.’ OK. So, that’s why I backed up. Stand up then, let’s fight. Then he fell back down and the fight was called.”
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McGregor and Holloway first met in 2013 as youthful featherweight prospects. The matchup was a pivotal moment in the Irishman’s rise to superstar status, as he defeated Holloway via unanimous decision despite battling a torn ACL he suffered mid-fight.
There was mild bad blood and trash talk hurled back and forth ahead of Saturday’s rematch build, but Holloway wasn’t out to hurt McGregor after the bout’s opening seconds.
“We’re killers, but at the end of the day, I’m a human being,” Holloway said. “I think that’s why I’m so loved in this sport, because I can actually separate the fighter from the person. So, when I saw him hurt, I was like, ‘Man, come on. You can call this.’ He was done, you know? He wanted to fight. Tried to stand up again — fell back down.
“I just [wish] him a speedy recovery. It’s all up to him. The man, like I said, is trying to change his life around. So, sending prayers his way.”
For McGregor, his return bout ends similar to his previous prior fight in July 2021 — via a leg injury. Although the latest setback appears far less catastrophic than McGregor’s lower-leg fracture against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, he’ll presumably have to take an extended break once again.
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In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s action, the UFC commentary team speculated that McGregor entered the bout injured, as replay footage showed him hobbling in the inspection zone before entering the Octagon. However, McGregor has since taken to social media to claim that he was fully healthy going into the bout.
Holloway still felt the vibe was off with “The Notorious” during his walkout.
“Even with him walking into the Octagon, it just didn’t seem like the same Conor,” Holloway said. “He was there to fight, but I thought he’d be a little bit more rowdy, more crazy. He looked like really, really calm. So, I was just kind of like, ‘Oh, wow. Let’s see how this goes.’
“Then, of course, I knew he was going to attack me with something, and it was a kick, so it sucks.”
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It could have been worse for Holloway, who picked up the highest-profile win imaginable with the easier weight cut of his career. The former featherweight champion made his welterweight debut and left entirely unscathed, while simultaneously feeling desperate to get the full experience.
Does that mean a trilogy bout is next? That depends on McGregor. But Holloway is entirely open to it and will wait until next year if he has to.
“He always jumps in with a side kick to the front leg or something. I was just surprised at how slow-motion it looked in the air. I was like, ‘Whoa, 170 [pounds] world is kind of fun,'” Holloway said.
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“I want to feel this 170-pound domain he’s talking about, this different world. That’s what I want. So I want to see what his injury is. As for me, I’m down to come back [in] 2027. With that March fight [against Charles Oliveira] and this fight, I know I came out unscathed, but I owe my family some time. … That’s my focus. You’ll see ‘Blessed’ return in 2027.”
