UFC 329 was supposed to be Conor McGregor's redemption tour. Instead it became one of the most stunning anticlimaxes in UFC history. McGregor threw a flying left roundhouse kick to open the fight against Max Holloway, landed awkwardly on his right knee, and referee Mike Beltran waved it off at 1:09 of the first round. Official result: Holloway wins in 69 seconds. Dana White said afterward the working assumption is a blown ACL.
Moments before Conor McGregor went into the Octagon https://t.co/urFz83Q18d
The internet did what the internet does with a letdown of that magnitude: it went straight to memes. Fans clowned the idea of clearing their whole Saturday for a fight that ended before the walk-out music finished echoing.
Dudes who planned their entire day around watching McGregor vs. Holloway https://t.co/s9Z1WkisBX
The disappointment curdled fast among Barstool's own crew. Eric Hubbs couldn't get past McGregor skipping the postfight mic entirely, and Robbie Fox joked the mohawk should've been the tell. Will Compton, landing in Nashville as it all went down, summed up the vibe by comparing his own McGregor optimism to once believing Mike Tyson would beat Jake Paul. By Sunday, Dave Portnoy was blunter still, saying McGregor is well into the part of his career when people hope to see a ghost that is long gone.
Holloway, for his part, didn't exactly read the room afterward. His trash talk in the aftermath reportedly flipped McGregor's own pre-fight line back on him, needling him about who's calling who's kid what now, and it kept the story rolling well past fight night.
Conor McGregor called Max Holloway his child before their fight Max’s son after Conor lost: “WHO’S YOUR DADDY NOW?” https://t.co/QIBQNZ8rAV
The one guy who actually delivered on the card was Paddy Pimblett. He submitted Benoit Saint-Denis in 52 seconds in the co-main event, latching a guillotine that turned into a D'Arce choke, reportedly the second-fastest D'Arce finish in UFC history behind only Kyle Daukaus. That kind of performance, on a night when the marquee attraction lasted barely longer than the anthem, is why the discourse shifted so hard toward him.
People talked so much shit about Paddy and his level of competition earlier on in his UFC career. If the last two fights have proven anything - he is one of the best lightweights in the world and worthy of all the hype.
TJ Hitchings put it plainly: with Conor's body seemingly done and Alex Pereira also fading from the current title picture, it's Paddy's time now. It's the kind of proclamation that would've sounded like a stretch a year ago and now reads like the obvious next chapter, especially after Pimblett moved on from his own dominant win with a shrug and a one-liner about what a performance from himself.
Dana White had his own fire to put out beyond the McGregor injury, getting visibly heated over a Shakur Stevenson graphic mishap during the broadcast, calling the promotion the absolute worst to ever do the celebrity thing. Add that to a blown-out knee, a co-main star arriving, and Barstool's own crew grinding through a chaotic PPV night, and UFC 329 turned into one of those cards that gets talked about for the wrong reasons and the right ones at the same time.