MMA Weekly Roundup — July 12, 2026: Holloway Stops McGregor in 69 Seconds at UFC 329
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MMA Weekly Roundup · Sunday, July 12, 2026
One of the most anticipated comebacks in MMA history lasted barely a minute. Here is everything that mattered from fight week, and what is coming next.
UFC 329: Holloway Stops McGregor in 69 Seconds
Conor McGregor's first UFC appearance in nearly five years ended almost as soon as it began. At UFC 329 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, McGregor's right knee buckled when he threw a jumping kick in the opening seconds of his welterweight rematch with Max Holloway. He tried to fight on, slipping to the canvas twice before referee Mike Beltran waved it off after a Holloway kick, giving Holloway the TKO win at 1:09 of Round 1, as first reported in live coverage by Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports. Dana White told reporters afterward that doctors suspect a torn ACL.
It was a brutal anticlimax to a card that broke records before a single punch landed: the event generated $26,430,566 in ticket sales, the biggest live gate in UFC history, surpassing UFC 306. Holloway, making his first appearance at 170 pounds, avenged nothing and proved little through no fault of his own — but he leaves Las Vegas with a win over McGregor thirteen years after their first meeting, and with intriguing options in a new division.
Pimblett Runs Through Saint Denis
In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett delivered the statement the main event could not. The Liverpudlian submitted Benoit Saint Denis with a first-round D'Arce choke, collecting a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and strengthening his claim to a spot near the top of the lightweight queue.
Around the Card: Whittaker, Steveson, and a Flyweight War
The rest of the main card delivered violence from top to bottom, per Forbes' full results. Robert Whittaker stopped Nikita Krylov with punches early in Round 3. Olympic gold medalist wrestler Gable Steveson needed less than a round, knocking out Elisha Ellison at 2:31. Brandon Royval and Lone'er Kavanagh earned Fight of the Night honors for a back-and-forth flyweight battle that Royval ended with a third-round rear-naked choke, and King Green added another $100,000 Performance bonus with a dramatic first-round comeback TKO of Terrance McKinney. Further down the card, Adrian Yanez halted Cody Garbrandt in the first, and prospects Luke Riley and Damian Pinas kept their momentum going with early finishes. Full bonus coverage is up at UFC.com.
Looking Ahead: du Plessis vs Usman in Oklahoma City
The Octagon barely gets a week off. On Saturday, July 18, former middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis (23-3) meets former welterweight king Kamaru Usman (21-4) in a middleweight main event at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City — the UFC's first visit to the city since 2017, streaming on Paramount+ with prelims at 5 p.m. ET and the main card at 8 p.m. ET, per UFC.com.
Beyond that, the summer schedule stacks up fast: Magomed Ankalaev and Khalil Rountree Jr. headline in Abu Dhabi on August 1, and UFC 330 hits Philadelphia on August 15 with Islam Makhachev defending against Ian Machado Garry, per ESPN's UFC schedule.