Conor McGregor waited five years to return to the Octagon and then blew out his knee with his first kick of the fight tonight against Max Holloway at UFC 329.
Round One
The welterweight main event is underway in Las Vegas!
McGregor charges in with a jumping head kick straight away, but it doesn’t pay off and looked awkward the way he landed afterwards.
McGregor goes for another big kick and his leg buckles and causes him to fall to the mat.
Terrible start for McGregor as he now tries to fight off his back. Holloway knows McGregor is injured and seems to be signalling to the referee about it ,but for now it goes on.
McGregor gets back to his feet. He grimaces and is clearly struggling as his leg buckles again McGregor backs off and it’s clear he’s had enough, causing the ref to step in and waves off the fight by TKO just 69 seconds into the fight.
That was like a nightmare come true for McGregor! Five years after his leg break in the Octagon it seemed like he was trying to come in hot and show that he wasn’t afraid to throw kicks, but going straight into a flashy jumping technique proved to be a terrible idea and has led to a massively anti-climactic ending after all that anticipation.
Coincidentally, McGregor previously suffered an ACL injury in his first fight against Holloway 13 years ago, but on that occasion he adapted on the fly, using takedowns and top control to emerge with a decision victory.
On this occasion though it was clear that the damage had taken too much of a toll and he had no appetite to continue, while Holloway also appeared reluctant to dish out any more punishment.
This really couldn’t have gone worse, and McGregor understandably looked mortified afterwards, to the extent that he didn’t even stick around for his post-fight interview – something he did even with a broken leg five years ago.
Holloway has said he’s open to a trilogy fight now, but it’s going to be a long time before McGregor heals up from this kind of injury, and judging by the way he looked post-fight he might already be questioning whether he actually wants to compete again.
