Conor McGregor has explained the kick that ended his comeback, and it came down to what happened the last time he was in there.
McGregor returned at UFC 329 in July after five years out, tore his knee throwing a jumping kick in the opening moments and lost to Max Holloway 69 seconds in. Speaking to Robert O’Neill on the MAC Energy YouTube channel, he laid out the thinking.
I had the shot. I was landing it perfectly in training. My sparring partners were coming forward. It was wa-bum! And I just had it in my head, ‘I don’t care when this bell rings. Last time I was in this octagon, the leg snapped in half. I’m gonna run forward and charge and fly across the octagon and crack him in the jaw.’ I didn’t care about surroundings or canvas. I didn’t even look. I was just going, and it was the first time I’d ever done something like that.
He knows it was not how he normally works.
Usually I have my weapons in tow, and I’ll go in, and I’ll see, and I’ll say, ‘Right, there’s weapon one, boom.’ That’s how I should have done. But I’m out five years; it is what it is.
His issue now is with how the fight was stopped.
I’ll tell you what, it wasn’t me that was calling for the finish of the fight. It wasn’t me calling to finish it. If I fight you and you look for the ref, ‘Ref! Stop the fight!’ Who stops the fight? Don’t stop! Finish the —- fight! You’re the man calling for the fight to be stopped. The fight’s only began.
I yearn for retribution. It drives me on. I have this journey. I have this task ahead of me. I have the title of the greatest comeback in sports history.
The timeline is longer than the ambition. McGregor said the swelling is down and he came off the crutch ahead of schedule, but he is not repeating what he did a decade ago.
I recovered and returned to competition within nine months for my last one. I fought in a show in Dublin, Ireland, knocked the guy out in one round, triumphant return. But really I was still on one leg. Really, I wasn’t fully healed. It takes 9-12. In nine, you’ll get cleared. This time, I think I’m going to take that time. So 9-12 gives me ample time.
That puts a return around next summer. He has one fight left on his contract, and Eddie Alvarez said this week that he does not expect the UFC to make that last fight an easy one.
