{"id":138635,"date":"2026-07-12T00:52:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/conor-mcgregor-suffers-early-knee-injury-in-return-loses-to-max-holloway-at-ufc-329\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T00:52:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:52:52","slug":"conor-mcgregor-suffers-early-knee-injury-in-return-loses-to-max-holloway-at-ufc-329","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/conor-mcgregor-suffers-early-knee-injury-in-return-loses-to-max-holloway-at-ufc-329\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor suffers early knee injury in return, loses to Max Holloway at UFC 329"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Conor
Conor McGregor, right, jumps into the air for a kick as he fights Max Holloway in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Conor McGregor\u2019s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 ended unceremoniously at just 1:09 of the first round Saturday night because of a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the first time in more than five years, McGregor flew across the ring with a flying left roundhouse kick when the match started and landed awkwardly on his right knee.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMy head gasket is gone. Destroyed,” McGregor said on social media<\/a>. \u201cI had no injury \/ injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if there may have been an existing injury, UFC President Dana White said there were no signs of it Friday at the ceremonial weigh-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years off in this sport is rough,\u201d 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

White added that with the millions of social-media views of McGregor rushing Holloway at the weigh-in, someone would have noticed if anyone was injured.<\/p>\n

Holloway said he kept telling referee Mike Beltran to stop the fight because it was apparent McGregor was injured, but the former champion kept saying, \u201cFight!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the fight, you could see his demeanor change,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cWhen I saw him hurt, I said, \u2018Call this, he\u2019s hurt.’<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope for a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holloway closed a -300 favorite at Bet MGM Sportsbook, which means a bettor would have to lay $300 to win $100. McGregor was a +240 underdog, which means a bettor would win $240 with a $100 wager on the Irishman.<\/p>\n

McGregor, who strolled to the ring to the sounds of Notorious Biggie Smalls\u2019 \u201cHypnotize\u201d and the roar of the sold-out crowd, last fought exactly five years and a day before Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The fans were also treated to Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham serving as a guest ring girl before the first round of the main event. White said it was decided eight minutes before she strolled around the cage in a black top and sequenced shorts, stopping occasionally to replicate her highly popular finger point from the recent game against the Phoenix Mercury.<\/p>\n

To the delight of a frenzied audience just hours after his home country of England won its quarterfinal match over Norway in the World Cup, Liverpool\u2019s Paddy Pimblett (24-4-0) made quick work of Benoit Saint Denis (17-4-0) with a first-round TKO. Pimblett, who closed a +120 underdog, blocked a roundhouse kick, shot in and quickly applied a D\u2019Arce Choke to put Saint Denis to sleep for the win in 52 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cLight work,\u201d Pimblett said with a smile at the post-fight press conference. \u201cMother (expletive) got slept.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bantamweight battle, Mario Bautista (18-3-0) defeated Cory Sandhagen (18-7-0) by unanimous decision, after taking advantage of a first-round leg kick and applying pressure in each round after. A flurry of punches in the third round secured the decision.<\/p>\n

In a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, Brandon Royval (18-9-0) applied a rear-naked choke on Lone\u2019er Kavanagh (10-2-0) to win by submission at the 3:40 mark of the final round.<\/p>\n

In an absolute shocker to start the main card, a bloodied King Green (36-17-0) overcame a beating for nearly the entire first round before landing a right hand to the jaw of Terrance McKinney (18-9-0) with roughly 20 seconds left, and then finished him off for a TKO at the 4:59 mark.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MMA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mixed-martial-arts<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Conor
Conor McGregor reacts after he lost to Max Holloway in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Conor
Conor McGregor, right, jumps into the air for a kick as he fights Max Holloway in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Conor
Conor McGregor, right, embraces Max Holloway after McGregor lost in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Conor
Conor McGregor reacts after losing to Max Holloway in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conor McGregor, right, jumps into the air for a kick as he fights Max Holloway in a welterweight fight at the UFC 329 mixed martial arts event Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)(AP Photo\/John Locher) LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Conor McGregor\u2019s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 ended unceremoniously at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138635"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}