00:00Disturbing new footage reveals McGregor's condition before the fight.
00:03Disturbing new footage of Conor McGregor limping backstage at UFC 329
00:07has got the whole internet talking.
00:09This is before Conor McGregor entered the octagon.
00:14Apparently, McGregor could barely pull his shoe off before the fight,
00:17and 69 seconds in, his knee gave out.
00:20So was he already hurt before he stepped in?
00:22Here's exactly what happened.
00:23The footage before the fight.
00:26Before the fight, a short video began to move across X, Instagram, and TikTok.
00:30It was not a promo, it was a phone clip.
00:32McGregor was backstage near his walkout, and he was working to take off one of his shoes.
00:36This is the footage that started everything.
00:38Viewers replayed it, slowed it, and zoomed in.
00:41They said his leg looked reluctant to bear full weight.
00:44That one detail set the tone for the whole night.
00:46This was McGregor's first fight in more than five years.
00:49The weight had been long, and the attention was heavy, so every frame of him got studied.
00:53The bout was billed as his return, and the sport expected an explosive one.
00:57Around the same time, another clip circulated.
01:00It showed McGregor at a hospital in the days before fight week.
01:03Fighters visit medical facilities for hydration, recovery, and weight checks.
01:06But the timing lined up with the shoe clip, and people connected the two.
01:10There was also footage that pushed the other way.
01:11Warm-up videos showed McGregor drilling kicks and moving through camp without a limp.
01:15His camp said he had passed the medicals.
01:17He had passed the weigh-ins.
01:19Nobody flagged an issue at either checkpoint.
01:21At the ceremonial weigh-ins, he had rushed across the stage toward Holloway for the stare-down.
01:25Millions watched it.
01:26He moved fast, and he moved on both legs.
01:28To many that did not look like a hurt man, the event was a sellout.
01:32The arena held 20,076 fans, and the gates set a record.
01:36The main event was the reason most of them were there.
01:38Then came the walkout.
01:39Some viewers said his entrance looked different from his past walkouts.
01:42They pointed to deep breaths and a distant look.
01:44He still spoke with confidence, but the body language read as guarded to some.
01:48Against all of that, the fight arrived.
01:50McGregor came out of his corner fast.
01:52He closed the distance and threw a kick in the opening seconds.
01:54The fight starts.
01:55He throws a, like a, what was it, like a running, flying left kick.
02:01Then the leg failed.
02:02There was no strike from Holloway at the moment it happened.
02:05It was a landing.
02:05And clearly his right knee blows out.
02:09His right knee is injured.
02:10Now, the fight had been booked for five rounds.
02:13It did not reach the end of the first.
02:14McGregor grimaced.
02:15He hopped on the leg.
02:17He tried to keep going and threw more shots, but he slipped and fell without contact.
02:20The canvas and the bad leg worked against him.
02:23Referee Mike Beltran watched him closely.
02:25Holloway backed off and asked for the fight to end.
02:27Max later said McGregor was still calling to keep fighting.
02:29By the way, Max telling the UFC backstage that Conor was yelling to him, fight, fight.
02:36Beltran waved it off.
02:37The main event was over.
02:38In case you didn't watch.
02:39In case you didn't watch, it all lasted 69 seconds.
02:43On the broadcast, the commentary team read it within seconds.
02:46They saw the knee, not a punch, and said so on the call.
02:49A fight set for five rounds had ended on the first exchange without a single clean blow
02:53landed by Holloway.
02:54McGregor sat on the stool.
02:56He was in pain.
02:57Cameras caught the emotion on his face before he rose to leave.
02:59McGregor did not take a post-fight interview.
03:01He left the cage on his own power, and the footage of that exit traveled almost as far as
03:05the injury itself.
03:06He waved off the crutches.
03:07He left the building in his fight gear.
03:09He did not stop to speak to the crowd, and he did not stop for the cameras on his way
03:14out.
03:14Then Dana White spoke to the press.
03:16He said he had not yet spoken to McGregor, and that a full answer would come after an
03:20MRI.
03:21Before that, he gave the first medical read.
03:23We're assuming blown ACL.
03:25I'm no doctor, but that's what I figured when I saw it.
03:28He added that the doctors agreed with that first read.
03:31Doctors think the same thing too.
03:32So the full sequence ran in one minute and nine seconds of round one.
03:35A kick, a landing, a knee, a stoppage, and a walk to the back with no crutches.
03:40No surgery details came out that night.
03:43White said the diagnosis would wait for the MRI.
03:45His team said he would be evaluated in the days that followed.
03:48For now, the arena had one image to hold onto, a fighter leaving in his gear on a leg that
03:53would not hold him.
03:54That is what happened, but it does not settle the thing the footage raised.
03:58Those clips came out before the fight, not after.
04:00So the real question is, the one the whole sport started asking that week, was Conor McGregor
04:05already hurt when he walked in.
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