{"id":806478,"date":"2026-07-17T16:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806478\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:58:09","slug":"conor-mcgregor-responds-to-nonsense-claims-he-was-injured-going-into-ufc-329-reveals-who-he-wants-in-final-ufc-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806478\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor responds to \u2018nonsense\u2019 claims he was injured going into UFC 329, reveals who he wants in final UFC fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Conor McGregor isn\u2019t interested in hearing conspiracy theories that he was already compromised heading into his comeback fight against Max Holloway at UFC 329.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">As soon as the action started, McGregor threw an ill-fated jumping roundhouse kick and when he landed, his knee popped and the referee eventually stopped the fight. During the UFC 329 broadcast, there were multiple videos shown theorizing that perhaps McGregor already had something wrong with his knee and the awkward landing in the octagon just exacerbated an existing injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">But McGregor shut down that idea including the video that showed him off balance as he removed his shoes before setting foot in the octagon that night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cMore nonsense,\u201d McGregor said on Twitter. \u201cI had zero issue. The taking off of my shoe at octagon side, a sweaty foot, without a sock on, pulling off the shoe with the ball of my free foot. It was a brief disbalance. If even.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI was primed. Fit. Healthy. My engine, my oxygen, my blood, my hr, was never in better condition. Next time I\u2019ll give a little scream at the camera so the illusion of something else is there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">McGregor also addressed the stoppage after referee Mike Beltran had no choice but to wave off the fight after the Irish superstar struggled to get to his feet as he limped around the cage after an exchange on the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">In his first fight against Holloway back in 2013, McGregor suffered a torn ACL in the second round, but he continued fighting and ultimately won a unanimous decision on the scorecards. But the two situations aren\u2019t the same even if McGregor likely suffered a similar injury at UFC 329.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cThe first fight was midway thru the second round and we were positioned on the canvas where there was no weight bearing necessary,\u201d McGregor explained. \u201cIt was also the left leg which is my back leg in fighting stance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cWhen you strike you move onto your lead leg so the effect was less. I was able to strike sufficiently and enter to a takedown. This current one was my lead leg. The right leg. Every movement was effected. It was also not me who was calling for the fight to be waved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">McGregor has already announced plans to fight again once his knee is healed but he\u2019s still awaiting the full results of his MRI to know exactly what happened with surgery already on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Assuming he returns, McGregor would be competing on the final fight of his current UFC contract and he\u2019s given no indication that he plans to ink a longer term deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That said, McGregor will obviously have plenty of options for his next opponent but there\u2019s only one name on his mind for that fight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cIt has to be Holloway,\u201d McGregor said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">For now, McGregor continues to rest and recover until he undergoes surgery to repair the damage done from the fight with hopes he could return sometime in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor isn\u2019t interested in hearing conspiracy theories that he was already compromised heading into his comeback fight&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-806478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}