He ran right at him

Dana White recently shared his take on speculations around Conor McGregor’s injury at UFC 329.

McGregor made his highly anticipated return to mixed martial arts in a welterweight fight against Max Holloway at UFC 329 earlier today at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In their previous featherweight encounter at UFC Boston in August 2013, McGregor beat Holloway via unanimous decision after three rounds.

This fight notably marked McGregor’s first UFC outing since his ill-fated trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. Given the Irishman’s extended layoff, many questioned his chances against the Hawaiian fighter.

While McGregor looked confident in the cage before the fight, he couldn’t make his comeback count thanks to another ill-timed leg injury. In the opening minute, McGregor threw a flying kick at Holloway and followed up with another high kick, which appeared to injure his leg. Soon after, referee Mike Beltran called a stop to the fight, and Holloway won via first-round knockout.

In the aftermath, fans began speculating whether McGregor was injured before the fight and carried that injury into the octagon. In a post-fight presser, White addressed these speculations and dismissed them. He said:

“Just on my accounts, the faceoff that day is at 80 million views. So, if there was a pre-existing injury, someone would have noticed it. He wasn’t limping. He put his shoes on. He ran right at him. I don’t think there was [an injury]. Anything is possible, but he sure didn’t look like [he was injured]. 80 million just on my accounts, that number is massive and nobody noticed anything. So, there you go.”

McGregor is now on a three-fight losing streak and has a professional record of 22-7, with 19 of those wins coming via knockout. Meanwhile, Holloway redeemed his previous loss against Justin Gaethje and has a professional record of 28-9.