Dominick Cruz has weighed in on Conor McGregor’s latest setback, addressing the knee injury "The Notorious" suffered in his UFC 329 comeback against Max Holloway.
McGregor tore his right ACL and meniscus just 69 seconds into the fight, which marked his first appearance in five years after a broken left leg in July 2021. He had previously been scheduled to face Michael Chandler in June 2024 but withdrew due to a broken pinky toe.
Appearing on "The Ariel Helwani Show.", Cruz said, "I have nothing but positive energy to put toward him in his healing," and detailed what he’d heard about the damage. "An ACL, meniscus tear is what I heard it is, and I knew in my gut it was an ACL. You just don't know to the extent. Sometimes you can tear the ACL and everything else, but he just tore a meniscus and ACL, which is very repairable."
Cruz, a former UFC bantamweight champion who has endured three ACL tears himself, added, "The good news is because it's an ACL and meniscus – meniscus, that doesn't stop you. If it was MCL, he'd be stuck for a little while, like frozen for I think two to three months before you can even start bending the leg. He should be able to start moving that leg right away, which will really quicken the healing process for him."
Cruz has his own history of comebacks, returning from a three-year layoff in 2014 to knock out Takeya Mizugaki in one minute at UFC 178, then later defeating T.J. Dillashaw for the bantamweight title after 16 months out in what is described as one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history.
