McGregor vs Holloway 2: Conor McGregor injured 69 seconds into UFC comeback

Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon against Max Holloway at UFC 329 lasted just 69 seconds after the Irishman suffered a knee injury.

McGregor came out of the gate with a few hard strikes, but missed both times and ended up on the canvas.

The 37-year-old got to his feet but appeared unsteady and referee Mike Beltran stumbled and called off the contest.

This was McGregor’s first appearance in the UFC since breaking his leg following a 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier.

Holloway was looking to avenge his defeat to McGregor when they first met in 2013, taking his record to 28 wins in 37 fights.

“You guys are lucky because now there will be a Holloway-McGregor 3 match,” Holloway said.

“Something like that. I’m going to sit down with the UFC. There was a lot of excitement about it. We need to go back one more time. We need another one.

“I was looking forward to this. I was working so hard to get to 170lbs and fight this guy. It sucks that it ended like this.”

Former featherweight champion Holloway made his heavyweight debut at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The defeat was McGregor’s seventh of his career and fourth in his last five appearances, leaving him with just one winning record since 2016.