UFC 329 Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2 Live Updates, Results and Highlights

A potentially devastating injury for the Irishman.

McGregor has a right knee injury.

Not a man to hold back, Paddy Pimblett reacts to the shocking Conor McGregor loss at UFC 329.

If you were hoping for immediate answers about what happened to Conor McGregor's right leg in tonight's main event, we've got bad news: The Irishman walked out of the Octagon before Joe Rogan had a chance to interview him. But hey, at least he walked... In his next most recent fight, he left on a stretcher.

Holloway, of course, did get a moment on the mic. He was obviously disappointed with the outcome—he basically didn't get to fight—but he quickly tried to convert tonight's disastrous result into a third fight with McGregor.

"There's going to be a Holloway-McGregor 3 now," he shouted. "One more time, for the boys… 100%, we need one more."

Fair play, but anyone who watched McGregor limp out of the Octagon is most likely feeling the same right now. He probably won't be back. Not in MMA, at least. He just didn't look like a guy who wanted to fight again. He looked resigned a reality that must have seemed unthinkable when he was transcending the sport in 2015 and 2016. The party is winding down. It's over.

It's hard to describe how disappointing this is.

McGregor injured his leg—shockingly, not the one Dustin Poirier broke—on the first kick he threw in the fight. In a matter of seconds. He tried to throw a few more kicks, but it was clear he was done. The referee waved it off, and it was over.

In a sport as unpredictable as MMA, it's risky to speak in certain terms, but it really seems like it's over for Conor McGregor.

In case you missed it, here's Conor McGregor's walkout, complete with all the dry ice and fanfare you'd expect. Time to fight!

McGregor and Holloway are in the Octagon. Bruce Buffer is warming up his vocal cords. Once he's done his part, all that's left to do is fight.

We've reached the main event of the evening. After a disastrous leg injury, five years out of action, a slew of scandals, and—ostensibly—the turning over of a new leaf, Conor McGregor is back.

He will fight former featherweight champion Max Holloway in a matter of minutes. They will have five rounds to work with in the 170-pound welterweight division, but it's doubtful it will last that long.

The ring walks will begin in moments. Queue The Foggy Dew.

After his brutal 40-second submission win over Saint Denis, Paddy Pimblett had a bunch of names on the tip of his tongue, calling out Ilia Topuria, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway and Conor McGregor in a single breath.

"Everyone said I was finished because I got beat by Gaethje? What now?" he said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. "I'll beat Ilia. I'll rematch Justin. I'll fight Conor or Max next. Give me anyone. I'll punch their head in."

Paddy Pimblett had a lot of questions to answer after his losing effort against Justin Gaethje in January. He answered them decisively.

Moments into the UFC 329 co-main event, he dragged Benoit Saint Denis to the canvas, locked up a guillotine choke, and after a brief struggle, choked the Frenchman unconscious. Snoring.

This was an absolutely statement-making win for Pimblett, and one that immediately launches him right back into the title contention, even with Gaethje sitting on the throne. This guys is good.

We've reached the co-main event of the evening, a clash of top lightweight contenders pitting England's Paddy Pimblett against Benoit Saint Denis of France.

Pimblett will be looking to rebound from a rough decision loss to Justin Gaethje in a January interim title fight. For Saint Denis, the fight is an opportunity to take his streak to three straight, following dominant wins over Mauricio Ruffy and Dan Hooker.

This is easily one of the most important fights on the card—maybe the most important, as far as rankings are concerned. It's also one of the hardest to predict, as both men have elite grappling, underrated striking, and good durability.

Expect chaos.

After three close rounds, Bautista was awarded a unanimous decision against Sandhagen, avenging a submission loss in their first meeting. He definitely deserved it. In round one, he threatened with a leg lock that seemed to injure Sandhagen's leg. In round three, he rattled his opponent with a right hook. Sandhagen had some big moments himself, particularly in round two, but the biggest moments of the fight were certainly Bautista's. He's now riding back to back wins, having also recently submitted Vinicius Oliveira.

Sandhagen and Bautista went back and forth for three rounds, with huge moments for both guys. The decision in this one is going to be interesting.

The next fight on the card is a rematch between top-10 bantamweights Cory Sandhagen and Mario Bautista. Sandhagen, a former title challenger, submitted Bautista with an armbar in their first meeting, and has been one of the best fighters in the division ever since. Bautista has dealt with a little more adversity, losing recently to Umar Nurmagomedov, but has made some huge strides himself. This could be a totally different fight, but it's got a lot of potential for entertainment no matter who wins.

Once we're through this one, it's on to the co-main event.

Last year, Brandon Royval came up short in a war with a rapidly-rising contender in Joshua Van (who is now UFC flyweight champion). On the UFC 329 main card, he had another wild scrap with another surging contender in Lone'er Kavanagh, and this time, came out on top.

It was a fight full of momentum swings. Royval had some great success with his grappling in round one, but ate some huge shots in rounds two and three. However, just when things started pointing toward a close decision, he dragged things to the mat, and tapped his young opponent out with a rear-naked choke.

It was a huge win for Royval, who had lost two in a row heading into the fight. For Kavanagh, it was a massive blow that will significantly delay his journey to a title shot.

After five years of promises and letdowns, Conor McGregor has arrived at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas for his next UFC fight—and sporting a new haircut! His doubters had every reason to question whether he'd show up, but he has.

This is happening.

In a few hours time, he'll fight Max Holloway for a second time, and look to prove that, despite being 37 years old, and despite returning from a terrible injury, he's still the electrifying fighter he once was.

Up next, we've got a flyweight clash between top-10 contenders Brandon Royval and Lone'er Kavanagh. Royval, a former title challenger, is riding back-to-back losses to Manel Kape and Joshua Van, and badly needs a win. Kavanagh, meanwhile, is riding a career-changing win over former champ Brandon Moreno. If he wins tonight, he will be one of the top contenders in the weight class.

Flyweight fights rarely fail to entertain, and given the skill of these two fighters, we're almost certainly in for a treat.

You will not find a fighter with more of a knack for first-round finishes than Terrance McKinney, and it looked like he was going to get another one at UFC 329, as he battered King Green to the brink of defeat for nearly all of the first five minutes. Then Green did the unthinkable. After surviving several minutes of ground and pound and fighting off multiple choke attempts, he returned to the feet, and dropped his opponent with a punch (which weirdly seem to land to the arm). He then swarmed on his opponent until the referee waved off the fight with literally one second left in the round.

Come-from-behind wins don't get much more impressive than that, and when you consider Green was participating in his 53rd pro fight, his work in the Octagon tonight is all the more amazing.

He's now riding four straight wins, having also recently beaten Jeremy Stephens. He may never be a contender again, but he's clearly still got it.

The UFC 329 main card is up next, which means we're only a few fights away from Conor McGregor's long-awaited return to the Octagon.

Still hard to believe, isn't?

Before the Irishman makes what's sure to be a grandiose walk to the Octagon, we'll kick the main card off with a lightweight fight between popular veteran King Green and prolific first-round finisher Terrance McKinney.

Let's get into it!

Robert Whittaker won his light heavyweight debut, defeating Nikita Krylov by third-round TKO after seemingly breaking his opponent's jaw.

This outcome will launch Whittaker into the division's top-15, and there's no question is was a great performance. He had some awesome moments, and looked much quicker than his opponent, which will continue to be a valuable asset against the big men of the division. However, it's still hard to say if this is the right weight class for him. At middleweight, we almost never saw him tired, but he was visibly winded by the end of round one of this light heavyweight fight. Clearly, he was having some growing pains in his new environs.

Again, though, this was a huge win for the former middleweight champ. He'll be ranked at light heavyweight come next week, and has a whole host of fresh matchups to look forward to. After some disappointing results in his last few middleweight fights, he's surely breathing a sigh of relief.

The final fight of the prelims is up next, and it's a good one, as former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker makes a late-career light heavyweight debut against Nikita Krylov. Whittaker actually began his career at welterweight, and Krylov at heavyweight, so there are some interesting variables at play here.

Unfortunately, there is still almost 40 minutes to fill before the main card starts, so we may have to endure quite a bit of chatter before this three-round fight actually begins.

As expected, Gable Steveson made quick work of his opponent Elisha Ellison.

The former Olympic gold medalist was aggressive from the outset, showing off some surprisingly good kicks and boxing for somebody who is still a relative novice in MMA. Ellison actually gave him a bit of trouble in return, but as the first round wore down, Steveson cranked up the pressure, and before long, his opponent was supine on the canvas. Out like a light.

This win frankly doesn't tell us much about Steveson's future in MMA. Wiping out a guy like Ellison absolutely doesn't mean he can hang with Tom Aspinall or Ciryl Gane, or even middling contenders like Marcin Tybura. That said, his raw talent is absolutely undeniable, and he is clearly taking to the striking side of the sport.

He's now 4-0. You've got to think the top-15 is coming up soon.

Gable Steveson, a former Olympic gold-medal wrestler who has also dabbled in football and WWE, is arguably the hottest prospect in MMA right now. In our next fight, the heavyweight will make his UFC debut opposite Elisha Ellison. 

Given his wrestling ability—and the fact that he's been training under the wing of Jon Jones—it's no surprise that Steveson is a gargantuan favorite to win this fight. Nobody is safe in MMA, though. One well-placed punch is all it will change to switch the narrative—especially when we're talking about heavyweights. 

The quick finishes continue!

Adrian Yanez only needed a couple of minutes to take care of former bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt. Midway through the first round, he cracked his opponent with a right hook. Garbrandt, who has unfortunately become notorious for his fragility, was immediately hurt, and a few punches later, he was crashing face-first into the canvas.

It was easily one of the best wins of Yanez's career, and a nice way to rebound from a draw against Ricky Simon. For Garbrandt, it was flat-out worrying. For all his ability—which still appears in flashes today—he has taken a ton of punishment in the cage.

It might be time for him to hang 'em up. He actually took his gloves off in the cage after the loss—a common symbolic gesture among retiring fighters—so it seems that may be his plan. However, he didn't get a post-fight interview to confirm it. Stay tuned on that.

Up next, we've got the latest appearance from former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. He'll return to action against former top-15 contender Adrian Yanez.

This is a great bit of matchmaking, as both guys are very slick boxers with serious firepower. It's highly doubtful it will last long, whether Yanez cashes as the favorite or Garbrandt springs the upset.

Luke Riley didn't need much time to take care of Kai Kamaka III in Las Vegas. The Brit quickly got to work with his low kicks and boxing, and around the halfway mark of round one, he blasted his opponent with a crackling right hand. The punch didn't put Kamaka out, but it hurt him badly, and Riley didn't relent. A few seconds later, the referee was intervening, giving the Brit a first-round standing TKO win. Commentator Joe Rogan thought the stoppage was a little early, but there's no question the Hawaiian was in big trouble.

In victory, Riley is now 3-0 in the Octagon, and 14-0 overall. It's definitely too early to make any big predictions about his future, but he is certainly representing the UK well in the Octagon so far.

The early prelims are all done. Up next, we move onto the next phase of the prelim broadcast. We'll start with a featherweight clash between England's Luke Riley and tough Hawaiian veteran Kai Kamaka III.

In her post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Wang Cong called out UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko for a fight. Even after four straight wins, this callout seems a bit premature. Then again, Wang actually holds a kickboxing win over Shevchenko, so there is some history between them.

Who knows? Crazier things have happened.

Our first and only women's bout of the night was an undercard flyweight clash between Tracy Cortez and Wang Cong. For Cortez, it was a chance to rebound from a tough submission loss to Erin Blanchfield. For Wang, a kickboxing export from China, it was a chance to put together a four-fight streak and become a legitimate contender in the weight class.

Wang got off to a great start, but unfortunately, landed an absolutely heinous illegal knee while Cortez was kneeling against the cage in round two. It was bad enough that the referee immediately took a point—something that almost never happens when fouls occur in MMA.

Thankfully, Cortez was able to continue, and the point deduction turned a relatively one-sided fight into an even contest heading into round three.

Cortez valiantly held in there through a tough round three, but in the end, Wang was successful enough in the first and last rounds that she still won a decision, despite the point deduction.

We've seen a number of elite kickboxers find success in the Octagon over the years, most notably Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya. Damian Pinas, fighting out of the kickboxing-obsessed country of Suriname by way of Aruba, is one of the latest.

On the UFC 329 prelims, Pinas scored a thunderous first-round knockout win over Brazil's César Almeida. This guy really has that one-touch power. Wow.

The Contender Series alum is now 2-0 in the Octagon, with two knockouts. The future is bright for him.

Interesting ... Basharat is undefeated and took apart Garza, but is in the final fight of his contract.

Did the win earn him a new deal with Dana White?

The card is moving quickly as we head into Farid Basharat vs. John Garza.

Well, that didn't take long! Gandra takes out Reese with a massive left hand, ending the fight quickly in the first round.

The middleweights take to the octagon now with another American vs. Brazilian matchup: Zachary Reese vs. Ryan Gandra.

The Brazilian picks up the victory at 2:19 of Round 2 with a rear-naked choke, finishing the American in convincing fashion.

An easy win for the 30-year-old, who extends his winning streak to three with the victory over Durden.

Cody Durden and Alessandro Costa get things started before a sparse crowd at T-Mobile Arena. Sit back, relax and follow along on our live blog from now until the end of the card.