Dana White reacts to Conor McGregor's injury, reveals what UFC doctors assume

Jul 12, 2026 - 05:15
0 1

LAS VEGAS – UFC 329 was at the peak of its build with an electric atmosphere until a miscalculated bound sucked the energy right out of the room.

Conor McGregor suffered an injury just seconds into his main event Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, leading to the fight being waved off 1:09 into Round 1.

UFC CEO Dana White, like many others, was wildly disappointed with the bout's ending. He said he hadn't spoken to McGregor yet about the injury, but revealed what doctors suspect he is dealing with.

"Listen, everybody who knows anything about the fight business, and it's been a big topic of discussion up to this fight: five years off in this sport is rough," White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference Saturday. "Like you said, great card. Unbelievable, the Paddy Pimblett thing right before, you just feel it all in the air. 'Here we go.' I was expecting at least a one-round war or who knew what Conor was capable of as far as cardio or whatever else after a five-year layoff. Well, there you go. We're assuming blown ACL. I'm no doctor, but that's what I figured when I saw it. Doctors think the same thing, too."

The unusualness of the situation and McGregor's unexpected fall to the canvas led many viewers on first watch to try to pinpoint when the injury occurred. The most reasonable explanation was that he suffered it when leaping up for a flying kick right out of the gate, but the broadcast also speculated it may have come in the on-deck circle as McGregor prepped for greasing.

White denied any knowledge of McGregor entering an injury and is not jumping to that conclusion.

"The day of the press conference, he came running out of the back and ran right up to him and stopped abruptly and squared up with them," White said. "They were pushing foreheads. I didn't see that. The doctors check them out before the fight, and he looked damn good at the press conference, and he looked fine at the weigh-ins. If anybody saw anything that could've possibly made him look weak or injured leading up to this fight, what did the f*cking faceoff do – 44 million in 24 hours. More? More than 44 million views. Somebody would've seen something. If somebody saw something, they didn't say it, which is impossible. Nobody would do that."

So... where do things go from here?

Well, White declined to do any matchmaking the night of the fights, of course.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White reacts to Conor McGregor's injury, reveals what UFC doctors assume

What's Your Reaction?

Like Like 0
Dislike Dislike 0
Love Love 0
Funny Funny 0
Wow Wow 0
Sad Sad 0
Angry Angry 0

Comments (0)

User