Max Holloway Calls for Conor McGregor Trilogy Fight After Notorious' Injury at UFC 329

Max Holloway is calling for a trilogy fight with Conor McGregor after their bout at UFC 329 ended with McGregor appearing to blow out his knee early in the first round.

"So much hype for that, right? Damn. We've got to run it back one more time. One more time for the boys," Holloway said after the injury stoppage.

McGregor suffered the injury when attempting to throw a kick seconds into the first round.

The fight was stopped at one minute and nine seconds before Holloway was declared victor by first-round TKO.

McGregor attempted a few more swings at Holloway before it became clear the fight couldn't continue.

Holloway said after the fight he had pushed for the referee to call off the rest of the scheduled five-round bout against McGregor's wishes.

"Right now, I'm just praying for the guy," Holloway said. "All jokes aside, as a human being— even when I was in there, you could see me telling the ref, 'Bro, this guy is done, just let it go.'

"The referee was telling me, 'Bro, thank you for pushing me, because it was a hard spot.' He had a hard feeling. And Conor's crazy. Conor's like, 'Fight! Fight!' I'm like, 'You're f--king crazy.'"

Saturday night's fight in Las Vegas marked McGregor's return to the Octagon for the first time in five years.

McGregor's last fight took place in July 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in the first round of his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

He was looking to make his UFC comeback by facing Holloway (28-9-0), who he previously defeated in a unanimous decision win despite tearing his ACL at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013.

McGregor (22-7-0) will now have to wait to try again for his first UFC win since defeating Donald Cerrone by TKO in January 2020.

Earlier on Saturday's card, Mario Bautista defeated Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision before Paddy Pimblett claimed a first-round TKO victory over Benoit Saint Denis.