McGregor's Knee Surgery Done — Now the Real Wait Begins

Conor McGregor has come through surgery to repair the knee he wrecked in the opening minute of his UFC 329 comeback, posting a short update on Wednesday to say the procedure went well and that he's confident about what comes next. The full damage was never spelled out publicly, but the injury has been confirmed as a torn ACL — an issue that typically demands 9 to 12 months of rehab before a fighter can even think about returning.

That timeline matters, because McGregor's rematch with Max Holloway barely got off the ground. He opened with a jumping roundhouse kick, landed awkwardly, and the fight was waved off just 66 seconds into round one. It was a brutal end for a former two-division champion who'd already sat out five years dealing with the broken leg from his previous octagon appearance.

A Familiar Injury on the Other Leg

There's history here. McGregor tore an ACL in his first meeting with Holloway back in 2013 — except that night he gritted through it, won a unanimous decision, and had surgery afterward. This time the tear came on the opposite leg and there was no gutting it out. The knee simply wouldn't cooperate, and the referee had no real choice.

For context on how thin the margins are at this stage: McGregor sits at 22-7 (19 KO, 1 SUB) and is currently unranked at lightweight. He's dropped his last few outings and, per the FightSplit database, has no bout agreement signed for his next fight. The comeback story that was supposed to reset his career instead lasted just over a minute.

What He's Aiming For

McGregor said he intends to be back inside a year, with International Fight Week 2027 pencilled in as his target return. He still has one fight remaining on his UFC contract and has made clear he wants to honor it before weighing opportunities outside the promotion. Whether the knee — and the calendar — cooperate is another matter, given the recovery arc for a full ACL reconstruction.

The rest of the division isn't waiting around. Islam Makhachev, now welterweight champion at 28-1 (13 submissions), defends against #1 contender Ian Machado Garry (17-1) at UFC 330. McGregor, meanwhile, faces the slowest kind of fight there is: the one against his own timeline.