There’s certainly no love lost between Islam Makhachev’s team and Conor McGregor, but even the reigning UFC welterweight champion couldn’t celebrate watching the Irish superstar’s long-awaited comeback end in such devastating fashion.
Following a five-year long layoff due to a broken leg suffered in his previous outing in the UFC, McGregor was poised for one of the most anticipated return fights in the history of the sport at UFC 329 in June. Sadly, McGregor threw a jumping roundhouse kick to open the fight and he landed awkwardly, which blew out his knee and tore his ACL.
McGregor tried to continue, but the injury just wouldn’t allow it and the fight was stopped just 69 seconds into the opening round.
For his part, Makhachev definitely believed Max Holloway was going to beat McGregor in that fight but even he was disappointed in how the whole ordeal played out.
“Honestly, I feel bad,” Makhachev told Complex Sports. “I know Max is going to beat him but not fast like this in the first minute.
“I wanted to see how he fights after the five years [off] and honestly, I felt bad when this happened.”
Since the injury, McGregor revealed that after surgery to repair the torn ACL in his knee, he’s currently targeting International Fight Week 2027 for his next comeback.
McGregor has openly stated that his next fight is the final bout on his current contract with the UFC, which seems to hint he plans on reaching free agency and potentially pursuing fights outside the promotion.
Of course, McGregor’s rivalry with Makhachev’s team is well documented after he engaged one of the nastiest buildups to a fight in UFC history when he was preparing for a showdown against Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2018.
The volatile rivalry culminated in Nurmagomedov defeating McGregor and then jumping over the cage to attack one of his coaches, who had also been talking trash leading up to the fight.
As for Makhachev, he’s in final preparations for his first title defense at 170 pounds as he headlines UFC 330 in Philadelphia when he faces another Irishman in Ian Machado Garry.
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