SouthernWorldwide.com – Conor McGregor’s highly anticipated return to the Octagon was abruptly cut short due to an apparent knee injury sustained just seconds into his UFC 325 bout against Max Holloway.
After a nearly five-year hiatus from the Octagon, McGregor faced off against fellow MMA star Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 325 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
McGregor started the fight aggressively, attempting a running kick and then a head kick shortly after. He seemed to slip on both occasions. Holloway quickly capitalized on the second attempt, securing a dominant top position and landing a right hand before McGregor could regain his footing.
A few moments later, McGregor fell to the canvas again after attempting a kick with his right leg, which appeared to buckle beneath him.
The official inside the Octagon swiftly waved off the fight, awarding Holloway a TKO victory.
During the broadcast, UFC CEO Dana White highlighted a replay from the first round that appeared to pinpoint the moment McGregor sustained the injury. Notably, the apparent injury was not to the same leg McGregor fractured during his 2021 fight against Dustin Poirier, an injury that led to his extended absence from fighting.
This loss marks an extension of McGregor’s prolonged winless streak, with his last victory in the UFC being a first-round TKO against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January 2020.
McGregor had previously earned a unanimous decision victory over Holloway in a featherweight bout back in 2013, a time when neither fighter had yet achieved megastar status in MMA. McGregor’s own stardom then rapidly ascended.
On Wednesday, McGregor himself admitted that he became entangled in his own celebrity status after securing UFC belts in two different weight classes and rising to become one of the most prominent figures in combat sports.
“I launched an Irish whiskey,” McGregor stated. “I didn’t drink heavily, if at all, at that time of my life. I was an athlete at the top of my game. Next thing you know, thousands upon thousands of bottles (are) in my garage.
“‘Sell this, Conor.’ Okay, I’d leave my property with two bottles under my arm, and that was it. I was caught. And I wasn’t used to it. And that’s it. God gave me these lessons. That’s it. I was trapped and caught, and it is what it is.”
While he may have spoken about it, living it proved to be a different challenge, as the controversial former champion has faced numerous controversies and legal issues over the past several years.
