An apparent knee injury snuffed out whatever magic Conor
McGregor planned to rekindle in his first
Ultimate Fighting Championship assignment 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 over
the top, pushed him to the canvas and cut loose with vicious
elbow-laced ground-and-pound. Royval called upon his extensive
experience, regained his faculties and hit the reset button ahead
of the third round. The onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance champion
fought fire with fire, shed an ill-advised guillotine choke from
Kavanagh, set up in top position and paired ground-and-pound with
repeated submission attempts. Royval eventually settled on the
rear-naked choke, snaked his arms into place and let his squeeze
finish the job.
It was Royval's first submission win since May 7, 2022.
Finally, former King of the Cage champion King Green
rallied to stop Terrance
McKinney with punches in the first round of their lightweight
appetizer. In the midst of a late-career resurgence,
Green (36-17-1, 17-12-1 UFC) drew the curtain 4:59 into Round
1.
McKinney (18-9, 8-6 UFC) dominated virtually every second of the
match. He opened multiple cuts on Green's face, swarmed him with
fast-twitch punches, secured a takedown and climbed to full mount.
McKinney then applied his ground-and-pound and appeared to be
within reach of another first-round finish but allowed his Pinnacle
MMA-trained counterpart to escape to his feet. Green took advantage
of the window of opportunity, pinned the Fusion X-Cel rep to the
fence, connected with punches to the body and forced him into a
defensive shell at the base of the cage. More punches followed,
prompting referee Kerry Hatley to intervene.
Green, who turns 40 in September, has rattled off four straight
wins.
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