McGregor said on social media<\/a>. \u201cI had no injury \/ injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.\u201d<\/p>\nAsked if there may have been an existing injury, UFC President Dana White said there were no signs of it Friday at the ceremonial weigh-in.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years off in this sport is rough,\u201d White said. \u201cWe\u2019re assuming a blown ACL. That\u2019s what I assumed when I saw it, and that\u2019s what the doctors think, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
White added that with the millions of social-media views of McGregor rushing Holloway at the weigh-in, someone would have noticed if anyone was injured.<\/p>\n
Holloway said he kept telling referee Mike Beltran to stop the fight because it was apparent McGregor was injured, but the former champion kept saying, \u201cFight!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the fight, you could see his demeanor change,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cWhen I saw him hurt, I said, \u2018Call this, he\u2019s hurt.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hope for a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holloway closed a -300 favorite at Bet MGM Sportsbook, which means a bettor would have to lay $300 to win $100. McGregor was a +240 underdog, which means a bettor would win $240 with a $100 wager on the Irishman.<\/p>\n
McGregor, who strolled to the ring to the sounds of Notorious Biggie Smalls\u2019 \u201cHypnotize\u201d and the roar of the sold-out crowd, last fought exactly five years and a day before Saturday night.<\/p>\n
The fans were also treated to Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham serving as a guest ring girl before the first round of the main event. White said it was decided eight minutes before she strolled around the cage in a black top and sequenced shorts, stopping occasionally to replicate her highly popular finger point from the recent game against the Phoenix Mercury.<\/p>\n
To the delight of a frenzied audience just hours after his home country of England won its quarterfinal match over Norway in the World Cup, Liverpool\u2019s Paddy Pimblett (24-4-0) made quick work of Benoit Saint Denis (17-4-0) with a first-round TKO. Pimblett, who closed a +120 underdog, blocked a roundhouse kick, shot in and quickly applied a D\u2019Arce Choke to put Saint Denis to sleep for the win in 52 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cLight work,\u201d Pimblett said with a smile at the post-fight press conference. \u201cMother (expletive) got slept.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a bantamweight battle, Mario Bautista (18-3-0) defeated Cory Sandhagen (18-7-0) by unanimous decision, after taking advantage of a first-round leg kick and applying pressure in each round after. A flurry of punches in the third round secured the decision.<\/p>\n
In a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, Brandon Royval (18-9-0) applied a rear-naked choke on Lone\u2019er Kavanagh (10-2-0) to win by submission at the 3:40 mark of the final round.<\/p>\n
In an absolute shocker to start the main card, a bloodied King Green (36-17-0) overcame a beating for nearly the entire first round before landing a right hand to the jaw of Terrance McKinney (18-9-0) with roughly 20 seconds left, and then finished him off for a TKO at the 4:59 mark.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MMA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mixed-martial-arts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Conor McGregor\u2019s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 ended unceremoniously at just 1:09…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":929456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[3881,2733,243615,21959,46737,143311,5191,6026,374876,21958,374875,21681,617,11290,21955,16091,62,374877,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-929455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ap-top-news","tag-athlete-injuries","tag-benoit-saint-denis","tag-brandon-royval","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-cory-sandhagen","tag-dana-white","tag-england","tag-mario-bautista","tag-max-holloway","tag-mike-beltran","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-nevada","tag-nv-state-wire","tag-paddy-pimblett","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-terrance-mckinney","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116905944691126553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}