Javier Mendez has offered a sympathetic response to Conor McGregor’s injury TKO loss to Max Holloway in the UFC 329 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this past Saturday.
McGregor was returning to competition for the first time since July 2021 in the UFC 329 headliner when he injured his right knee just 69 seconds into the fight. He landed awkwardly from a jumping switch kick and fell multiple times, prompting referee Mike Beltran to step in and stop the bout. McGregor has since said he is set to undergo surgery on his right knee.
Mendez, who is associated with Khabib Nurmagomedov as his star champion, expressed empathy for McGregor despite their history. “To have a warrior like him train as hard as he did after a five-year layoff and come back, and to have something like that happen, your heart has to go out to the guy,” Mendez said.
“Look, I may not like him as a person at times, but I have to respect what a great warrior he is. To see him go out that way is not the way I would want anyone to go out,” he added, before continuing, “You'd want him to go out doing what they came out there to do: perform. Either the other man was the better man or you were the better man, but he beat himself on that one, and I feel for him. That's not something I wouldn't want for anybody. He deserved to either become victorious or lose to Max, but that's the way it needed to go.”
Islam Makhachev also publicly reacted to McGregor’s loss, with one message stating, “Conor beat Conor congrats Max.”
