An apparent knee injury snuffed out whatever magic Conor McGregor planned to rekindle in his first Ultimate Fighting Championship ****** ignment in five years.
Max Holloway was awarded an anticlimactic technical knockout over the SBG Ireland cornerstone in the first round of their UFC 329 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A disappointed and dejected McGregor (22-7, 10-5 UFC)—who had beaten the Hawaiian by unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2013—bowed out 1:09 into Round 1.
It was essentially over before it began. McGregor appeared to suffer the injury while throwing a jumping round kick inside the first 10 seconds. He collapsed on multiple occasions afterward, unable to put any weight on his right leg while he attempted to engage Holloway (28-9, 24-9 UFC). It soon became clear to all involved that McGregor was compromised to such an extent that he could not move forward with the match.
Meanwhile, former Cage Warriors champion Paddy Pimblett put Benoit St. Denis to sleep with a Peruvian necktie in the first round of their lightweight co-main event. St. Denis (17-4, 9-4 UFC) lost consciousness 52 seconds into Round 1.
Pimblett (24-4, 8-1 UFC) survived the initial burst of offense from the Frenchman and made him pay for an ill-conceived takedown attempt. The Next Generation MMA star zeroed in on St. Denis’ exposed neck, bullied him to the canvas and proceeded to tighten the strings on the necktie. Pimblett then moved to a seated position—with one leg over the back, the other over the head—and maximized torque until the onetime French Special Forces operator lost his grip on reality.
It was the second sub-minute finish for Pimblett in 28 professional appearances.
Further down the main draw, Mario Bautista avenged a January 2019 submission defeat to Cory Sandhagen and laid claim to a unanimous decision over the Elevation Fight Team rep in their three-round bantamweight rematch. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Bautista (18-3, 12-3 UFC).
Sandhagen (18-7, 11-6 UFC) was undone by two key moments. Bautista appeared to damage his left leg with an attempted Suloev stretch kneebar late in the first round and dropped him with a sweeping left hook in the third. The rest of their 15-minute battle was marked by give-and-take action—Sandhagen opened a cut near the MMA Lab export’s right eye in the second round—in which neither man gained a discernible advantage.
Bautista, 33, has won 10 of his past 11 bouts.
Elsewhere, Factory X mainstay Brandon Royval rebounded from back-to-back losses to Joshua Van and Manel Kape, as he dismissed Lone’er Kavanagh with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their flyweight barnburner. Kavanagh (10-2, 3-2 UFC) waved the white flag of surrender 3:40 into Round 3.
Royval (18-9, 8-5 UFC) leaned into his jab and struck for a takedown in the first round, then averted disaster in the second. There, Kavanagh set him on rubber legs with a clean right hand ov
Max Holloway was awarded an anticlimactic technical knockout over the SBG Ireland cornerstone in the first round of their UFC 329 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A disappointed and dejected McGregor (22-7, 10-5 UFC)—who had beaten the Hawaiian by unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2013—bowed out 1:09 into Round 1.
It was essentially over before it began. McGregor appeared to suffer the injury while throwing a jumping round kick inside the first 10 seconds. He collapsed on multiple occasions afterward, unable to put any weight on his right leg while he attempted to engage Holloway (28-9, 24-9 UFC). It soon became clear to all involved that McGregor was compromised to such an extent that he could not move forward with the match.
Meanwhile, former Cage Warriors champion Paddy Pimblett put Benoit St. Denis to sleep with a Peruvian necktie in the first round of their lightweight co-main event. St. Denis (17-4, 9-4 UFC) lost consciousness 52 seconds into Round 1.
Pimblett (24-4, 8-1 UFC) survived the initial burst of offense from the Frenchman and made him pay for an ill-conceived takedown attempt. The Next Generation MMA star zeroed in on St. Denis’ exposed neck, bullied him to the canvas and proceeded to tighten the strings on the necktie. Pimblett then moved to a seated position—with one leg over the back, the other over the head—and maximized torque until the onetime French Special Forces operator lost his grip on reality.
It was the second sub-minute finish for Pimblett in 28 professional appearances.
Further down the main draw, Mario Bautista avenged a January 2019 submission defeat to Cory Sandhagen and laid claim to a unanimous decision over the Elevation Fight Team rep in their three-round bantamweight rematch. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Bautista (18-3, 12-3 UFC).
Sandhagen (18-7, 11-6 UFC) was undone by two key moments. Bautista appeared to damage his left leg with an attempted Suloev stretch kneebar late in the first round and dropped him with a sweeping left hook in the third. The rest of their 15-minute battle was marked by give-and-take action—Sandhagen opened a cut near the MMA Lab export’s right eye in the second round—in which neither man gained a discernible advantage.
Bautista, 33, has won 10 of his past 11 bouts.
Elsewhere, Factory X mainstay Brandon Royval rebounded from back-to-back losses to Joshua Van and Manel Kape, as he dismissed Lone’er Kavanagh with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their flyweight barnburner. Kavanagh (10-2, 3-2 UFC) waved the white flag of surrender 3:40 into Round 3.
Royval (18-9, 8-5 UFC) leaned into his jab and struck for a takedown in the first round, then averted disaster in the second. There, Kavanagh set him on rubber legs with a clean right hand ov
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