​Conor McGregor could be racing against the clock to be fit for the final fight on his UFC deal after picking up a fresh injury on his comeback — and there’s still a real question whether he will ever fight again. The 38-year-old Irish star returned to the Octagon on Saturday for the first time in five years, following the brutal break he suffered in his previous bout. His opponent, Max Holloway, delivered a similar outcome: McGregor fell in the opening moments of the fight due to an injury and couldn’t sustain his performance.
Early in the UFC 329 main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, McGregor appeared to injure his knee while executing a running, jumping kick in the opening seconds. He collapsed to the canvas, endured Holloway’s ground-and-pound from the bottom, and managed to rise. Yet he soon fell again, absorbed more strikes from Holloway, stood once more, and then staggered as the end approached. The referee ultimately waved off the contest, marking the second straight quick defeat amid injury for McGregor in Las Vegas—the same arena where he shattered his leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021.
Holloway, who had previously outpointed McGregor in 2013, seized on the opportunity for payback and promptly called for a trilogy clash. The question now is when that might happen, if McGregor is capable of competing again at all.
Under the current circumstances, the exact nature of McGregor’s latest injury remains unclear. Observers noted a knee issue, with Joe Rogan suggesting the possibility of an ACL injury. An ACL tear can require six to twelve months to heal, which could delay proper training until around July, with a potential return to competition not before the following autumn. McGregor himself had previously hinted at a prolonged timeline. In the lead-up to UFC 329, he told Ariel Helwani, “Right now I am contracted, and I have both dates. I have both dates for my fights. I have 11 July. When would you think they would put me back in? April 2027. It’s almost a year later, that’s ridiculous to me. I think, no? This is the way the contract was done, I don’t know. You’d have to ask Audie [Attar, manager] on all of that. I’m like: ‘Huh? Just give me the f***ing contract.’ It gets to that stage.”
Yet there remains a real possibility that McGregor will not fight again. Between his 2021 leg injury and the fresh setback on Saturday, he also battled a broken toe in 2024 in an attempt to take on Michael Chandler on two weeks’ notice. The rematch with Holloway was not only McGregor’s first bout since his leg and toe injuries but also occurred amid a period in which a civil jury found him liable for rape. McGregor appealed that verdict in 2024, but the appeal failed, and he continues to deny all allegations.
The year 2024 also brought a trio of drug-testing whereabouts failures for McGregor. The third failure occurred in September, resulting in an 18-month suspension that was backdated, allowing him to compete again from March of the following year. The UFC announced that development last October, a move timed to keep his name in the conversation as he navigated a complicated legal and competitive landscape. With his contract’s fate still up in the air and his body potentially unable to withstand another grueling campaign, the question remains: will Conor McGregor ever fight again, and if so, when?