{"id":537389,"date":"2026-07-12T07:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/537389\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T07:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:04:08","slug":"conor-mcgregors-long-awaited-ufc-return-ends-after-69-seconds-with-knee-injury-conor-mcgregor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/537389\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor\u2019s long-awaited UFC return ends after 69 seconds with knee injury | Conor McGregor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Conor McGregor\u2019s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas ended at just 1:09 of the first round Saturday night because of a knee injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Fighting for the first time in more than five years, the 37-year-old McGregor flew across the ring with a flying left roundhouse kick when the match started and landed awkwardly on his right knee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">After attempting to kick and strike Holloway (28-9-0) two more times, it was clear McGregor (22-7-0) couldn\u2019t finish the scheduled five-round welterweight bout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cFive years off in this sport is rough,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/ufc\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC<\/a> President Dana White said. \u201cWe\u2019re assuming a blown ACL. That\u2019s what I assumed when I saw it, and that\u2019s what the doctors think, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Holloway closed as the favorite. McGregor was a +240 underdog, which means a bettor would win $240 with a $100 wager on the Irishman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWhat can I say? I had him weak in the knees I guess,\u201d Holloway said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cSo much hype. We\u2019ve got to run it back one more time,\u201d he said. \u201cFor it to end like this sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conor McGregor and Max Holloway fought Saturday night in Las Vegas in a rematch of their 2013 featherweight bout. Photograph: Cooper Neill\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">McGregor, who strolled to the ring to the sounds of the Notorious BIG\u2019s \u201cHypnotize\u201d and the roar of the sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Arena, last fought exactly five years and a day before Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In what McGregor called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/jul\/10\/conor-mcgregor-return-ufc-max-holloway-legacy-ireland-comeback\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cthe comeback of all comebacks in sports history\u201d<\/a>, the bout was a rematch of a 2013 featherweight fight which the Irishman won by unanimous decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">McGregor had not fought since breaking his left leg in a 2021 defeat to American Dustin Poirier. McGregor had been the UFC\u2019s most marketable star before that injury, in 2016 becoming the first to hold two titles simultaneously at different weights. He reportedly earned more than $100m for losing a boxing superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">McGregor\u2019s last UFC victory was a 40-second triumph over American Donald Cerrone in January 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Earlier Saturday, England\u2019s Paddy Pimblett stopped France\u2019s Benoit Saint Denis by submission after only 52 seconds of a lightweight bout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor\u2019s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas ended at just 1:09 of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-537389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}