A rematch 13 years in the making. A comeback that took five years to get to this moment. Conor McGregor finally made his return at Saturday’s UFC 329 in Las Vegas, taking on an old foe in Max Holloway in a pivotal moment in the Irish fighter’s career.
It didn’t go as anyone had planned.
For years, despite McGregor’s tendency of proving naysayers wrong, many had proclaimed, loudly and often, that the Irish star would never fight again. That he was too rich, living too lavishly, that his out-of-cage follies including multiple civil lawsuits would be the end of him.
If nothing else, by the time he had been announced by Bruce Buffer as “the one, the only, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor” on Saturday, he had proved that crowd wrong.
Of course, a live fight with a fellow legend in Holloway was a different sort of animal. And McGregor came out hot, showing nerves, slipping off one hastily delivered jumping kick. Another kick, then another slip, and McGregor was forced to fight off his back. Throwing upkicks, McGregor scrambled up, attacked Holloway, then slipped again. Holloway could be heard saying McGregor was hurt, the Hawaiian backing off. McGregor was indeed injured. The fight was waved off moments later, McGregor emotional with his big comeback fizzling off another injury.
It appeared McGregor had buckled his knee off that first kick, though another video of him prior to entering the octagon showed him stumbling even then.
What comes next for Conor is a massive question mark. It’s another injury setback, another obstacle to overcome. The UFC has the option to run the fight back, should he opt to carry on in his career. But after a solid event from start to finish, the bottom simply fell out. The wheels came off the McGregor comeback, and fight fans may have seen the last of him in the cage.
Holloway called for a third fight as a dejected McGregor exited the octagon without a post-fight interview. “What can I say, I had him weak in the knees I guess,” Holloway joked with Joe Rogan. “It is what it is, I’m gonna sit down with the UFC. So much hype for that, damn. We’ve got to run it back one more time. One more time for the boys.”
Official Result: Max Holloway def. Conor McGregor by TKO (injury), Round 1, 1:09
