After a disastrous comeback at UFC 329, could McGregor be trusted to try again? - ESPN

The big Conor McGregor comeback card had great fights and moments worth cheering.

Sadly for the biggest draw, McGregor wasn't involved in any of them. Just the opposite, in fact, as McGregor suffered a leg injury upon his first move toward his opponent, Max Holloway, in the UFC 329 main event. After landing awkwardly on his right leg during a flying kick attempt, McGregor recovered only to fall to the canvas a second time seconds later. Before long, the fight was ended and McGregor left Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena with a limp and a lot of questions about what just happened.

Chief among them is whether McGregor can be trusted to try to fight again. After Saturday, it will be harder to convince anyone that another return is possible for McGregor. And what about Holloway? Could his next fight after McGregor be Paddy Pimblett, who stole the show by submitting Benoît Saint Denis in the co-main event in under a minute?

Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Jeff Wagenheim give their takeaways from those fights and on the brilliant debut of Gable Steveson, who could soon be a major player in the heavyweight division.

Saturday was the worst-case scenario for McGregor. The loss wasn't super surprising, because beating Holloway following a five-year layoff was always going to be a tough task.

But Saturday's result goes well beyond a loss. We don't know the extent of the injury, but UFC CEO Dana White said in the postfight news conference his team was «assuming a blown ACL.» McGregor turns 38 years old in three days, and trying to return from a significant injury at his age would be difficult enough, but he has also suffered multiple past knee injuries, including a torn ACL, and a broken left leg in July 2021. And he had a broken toe that