Daniel Cormier is openly doubting whether Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon after suffering a knee injury in his long-awaited comeback at UFC 329.
McGregor injured his right knee on the very first kick he threw in his main event rematch against Max Holloway on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The referee stopped the fight just 69 seconds into Round 1 after McGregor’s knee gave out, and "The Notorious" left the arena hobbled and still in his fight clothes.
Cormier framed the situation as a major crossroads for the former champion. "The question now becomes does Conor McGregor have it in him to come back? That is a big ask," Cormier said, later adding, "It's big of us to ask Conor McGregor, if his knee is blown out, to go through another year of rehab, another year of the sacrifices, the pain that it takes to work yourself back to a professional mixed martial artist – especially when you have the money that Conor McGregor has. That's a big ask."
McGregor and his coach John Kavanagh have stated he did not enter the Holloway fight with a pre-existing injury. This was McGregor’s first bout in five years after breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, and comes after he withdrew from a scheduled UFC 303 fight with Michael Chandler in June 2024 due to a broken pinky toe.
"And if you ask me truthfully, I am more likely to tell you that it's not going to happen than it will happen," Cormier said of a potential return.
