Dustin Poirier Shares Blunt Take on Conor McGregor's UFC 329 Injury
Conor McGregor‘s much-anticipated return to fight Max Holloway at UFC 329 didn’t go well for the Irish MMA star, and nobody seemed more delighted by it than his former opponent, Dustin Poirier.
The main event, held in Las Vegas, had plenty of hype ahead of it, only to fizzle when McGregor attempted an early jumping kick toward Holloway, but blew out his ACL on a strange landing. With that, the fight was eventually stopped by the referee, with Holloway picking up an easy victory.
“I thought it couldn’t have happened to a better guy. That injury couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Poirier said on Paramount+’s “Deep Waters,” regarding McGregor. “I saw earlier this week, he said, ‘Karma’s a mirror,’ and it definitely is, man. This guy’s a dirtbag.”
The retired UFC fighter said he wasn’t sure whether McGregor was experiencing “nervous energy” or what, but he didn’t understand why he attempted that kick he did to start the fight.
“They’re saying this was planned for him to start the fight like that, there’s footage of him training to open the fight with this jump kick, but I just don’t understand why you would do that,” he said. “That’s like a Hail Mary. You’re throwing a Hail Mary to start the fight.”
Read more:Dana White Sounds off on Shakur Stevenson UFC 329 Mix-Up
Poirier was the last fighter that McGregor faced five years ago, and picked up a win in the first round in their UFC 264 trilogy fight. That also featured a brutal injury for McGregor, who broke his leg, leading to a TKO stoppage in the first round. In their previous fight months prior, Poirier defeated McGregor at UFC 257 by TKO in the second round.
McGregor previously bested Poirier in September 2014, defeating him by a stunning first-round technical knockout at UFC 178, but he was much younger and more active in UFC then.
Fast forward to July 2025, and Poirier appeared in his final fight, where Holloway won by unanimous decision at their UFC 318 clash. That served as Poirier’s retirement bout, and he’s since become an analyst working with other former MMA stars, including Chris Weidman and Jorge Masvidal, on Paramount+’s “Deep Waters.”
During the conversation on the recent episode, Weidman suggested that McGregor threw that opening kick with the leg he previously broke in Poirier’s fight to try to “make a statement to himself” that he could land it.
Unfortunately, the landing didn’t go smoothly, with McGregor making his best attempts to get back on his feet and keep fighting, only to fall on the mat multiple times. Poirier attempted punches and strikes while McGregor was on the mat, but he could also tell something was off, and tried to ask the referee to stop the fight.
The referee eventually stopped the main event after 69 seconds due to the injury, which was disappointing for anyone who wanted to see if McGregor still had it after five years away from the UFC.
McGregor has since indicated he’ll have surgery, and it seems he won’t retire from fights just yet, but it might be hard for fans to develop as much interest in another comeback attempt.
Read more:Max Holloway Sends Message to Conor McGregor After UFC 329 Injury
For more about the UFC and MMA, head over to Newsweek Sports.
2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 11:49 AM.