Conor McGregor was wide awake in the scary hours Sunday morning, left to lament his loss on X instead of celebrate his win on the Las Vegas Strip.
“I was so sharp and so ready for this fight I cannot believe what has happened,” he wrote at 2:29 a.m. “…I will overcome this. I will not be deterred. I will return.”
Thanks, but no thanks.
If any doubt lingered five years after McGregor’s last fight in the UFC that he wasn’t shopworn and well past his peak, he sure did erase it on Saturday night. His failed roundhouse five seconds into his fight with Max Holloway at T-Mobile Arena left him helpless and bound for defeat – ending his comeback in 69 seconds.
The sellout crowd of 20,078 departed as swiftly and sullen as McGregor, who left the venue shirtless, barefoot, heartbroken – surely knowingly he’s Notorious no more. Still the UFC’s top star and draw — as evidenced by its record gate of $26.4 million, as announced by President Dana White — the Irish superstar shouldn’t be summoned to headline another one of its cards again.
Not with one win since 2016.
Added White, noting UFC doctors believe McGregor (22-7, 19 knockouts) tore his right ACL: “Everybody who knows anything about the fight business, and it’s been a topic of discussion leading up to this fight – five years off in this sport is rough. … I was expecting at least a one-round war. Who knew what Conor was capable of as far as cardio and whatever else after a five-year layoff?”
Next to nothing, White would learn.
At least the crowd was treated again to “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G., the East Coast hip-hop anthem to which McGregor made another walk to the cage. Its bounce, bassline and Brooklyn bravado once signaled to fight fans a beatdown would begin, serving instead Saturday as a solemn soundtrack of what used to be.
The dictation of distance, snapping strikes and laser left hand are products of the past, his pre-fight proclamations but bloviated bluster.
“I can destroy Max inside 10 seconds,” McGregor said on Thursday during the promotional press conference. “I have knockouts inside three seconds on my fighting record. I have Hall Of Fame fighters, multiples, Hall Of Fame UFC fighters, defeated and destroyed, both together in under a minute. And I can add Max to that. However, don’t get it twisted. If we go into those deep waters, Max is going to be in a lot of trouble.”
But resumes don’t influence outcomes. Skill, will and preparation do, and McGregor’s skills and physical capabilities have atrophied through the five years in between his last two fights. Filthy rich amid the windfall of his 2017 boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather — that spurred his inactivity in UFC and preceded the launch of his whiskey line, Proper Twelve — he acknowledged last week how alcohol has taken a toll on his fighting spirit.
“I was trapped and caught, and it is what it is.”
Trapped, caught, out of the cage and devoid of the discipline and desperation that powered his rise as a two-weight champion and biggest-ever star in the UFC.
McGregor’s previous loss – a five-minute beatdown by Dustin Poirier on July 10, 2021 during which he broke his left leg – foreshadowed his ineffectiveness against Holloway, a sizable favorite on Saturday who resisted the urge to punish him further. His errant kick made standing a struggle, forget trading punches altogether.
Said Holloway: “He was done. He wanted to fight. Tried to stand up again. Fall back down. I just hope (he has) a speedy recovery. All love to him. The man … is trying to change his life around, so, sending prayers his way. … Even with him walking into the octagon, it didn’t seem, it just didn’t seem like the same Conor.”
Same star, yes. Same fighter, far from it.
No wonder McGregor struggled to sleep.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
