by UFC 329 Started off great and then ended up in an epic disaster as an already injured Conor McGregor tried to fool everyone into thinking he was able to fight. Conor couldn’t even perform one move before falling to the canvas with a bum knee. It wasn’t much longer after that, following several more “slips” and falls from the former UFC Double Champ, for the fight to be stopped and Max Holloway to be named the winner.
Making matters even worse, Holloway requested a third match between the two afterwards during the post-fight interview because he knew he could make even more money. It was not what the crowd in the arena or at home wanted to hear. A total debacle as Conor was clearly hurt heading into the fight and couldn’t put any pressure on his left leg.
Never once in his prior 28 fights had McGregor ever opened a fight by doing that move, it seemed beyond set up for him to do that as he didn’t even touch gloves with Holloway. Again, when you factor in the countless out of the cage antics and illegal activities of McGregor, this is yet another in a long line of incidents tarnishing his legacy. From Rape to every alcohol or sexist act you can think of, he simply has completely destroyed his character and jut needs to retire for good.
This was his first fight in five years, his third straight loss and he hasn’t won a fight since 2020 and a meaningful fight since 2016 over Eddie Alvarez. He has a handful of meaningful wins in his career and is a product of the UFC marketing machine making someone look far bigger than they actually were.
His early win over Dustin Poirer was at the start of Poirers runs, and when the two fought again, Dustin destroyed him twice. Nate Diaz handed him his lunch in their first encounter and a lot of people feel as though Diaz won the rematch as well, despite the judges “majority” decision.
His win over Holloway back in 2013 was 13 years ago before Max truly got rolling, Aldo was over the hill and Eddie Alvarez wasn’t nearly as good in UFC as he was in Bellator. Chad Mendes never did anything again. Honestly, you can pick a hole in almost everyone of his “big” wins.
Elsewhere on the card, Paddy Pimblett picked up the biggest win of his career with an insanely quick 52 second submission of Benoit Saint Denis. Mario Bautista proved that the title chances of Cory Sandhagen are done for good with another decision win over the former title challenger.
Despite the debacle of a main event, the undercard saw a slew of dominant finishes and made the night fun for those watching. This included a dramatic come from behind win by King Green over Terrance McKinney as the horn blew to finish round one. Shortly after that, it was Brandon Royval looking excellent in his third-round rear naked choked win over Lone’er Kavanagh. The big win ended a two fight skid for Royval as well. Robert Whittaker, the former UFC Middleweight Champion, won his Light Heavyweight debut over UFC journeyman Nikita Krylov by third round stoppage. The problem for Whittaker was that he looked winded early and the win isn’t exactly quality considering Krylov has lost 12 times already.
Finally, the much-heralded Gable Steveson won his hyped UFC debut with a Elisha Ellison via first round knees and punches. Not exactly a huge win, but it does move his latest venture at pro sports to 4-0. He failed at Pro Wrestler, he failed at Pro Football, perhaps this is something that will stick?
The only other thing that jumped out was in the post-fight interview, Joe Rogan described Steveson as the most hyped and highly anticipated fighter in UFC history. Ummm, does he not remember Brock Lesnar?
