UFC handles McGregor debacle perfectly

For the millions of people around the world that turned up and tuned in for Conor McGregor's big return to the octagon, there isn't really a worse outcome that can be imagined than the one that we ended up getting.

Just over a minute was the total duration of the fight and most of that was spent with Conor on the ground and Max Holloway not fully attacking because he could tell that something was wrong.

The fight was called off after 69 seconds due to a seriously injured leg (later discovered to be a torn ACL and meniscus) and Conor immediately left the arena without so much as saying a word to Joe Rogan or to any member of the press.

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The hype train leading up to this fight took months, the ringwalks took about a half an hour, the fight itself was lame and took just over one minute. The press storm that followed took very little time as well because a lot of people involved either chose not to, or were told not to, talk about it.

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Dana is not one to mince words or to shy away from the press and he also doesn't try to give political or ambiguous answers to the press even if they do ask the same damn questions over and over in a way that is infuriating to even observers like me.

"His knee is fucked up"

That's basically the summary from the night after 329 and the UFC's official response after the fact has been to say as little about the event, and about Conor, as possible.

Conor has been unusually quiet on his socials and I can't help but think that since everything has been spelled correctly lately, that he has a bit of help from his own and perhaps UFC's PR department in doing this.

There has been only one kind of "petty excuse" for why the fight panned out the way it did and this was put to rest pretty quickly and never mentioned again.

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The only lame excuse I saw that was put out there may have not even been on Conor's behalf at all, it might have been though. This was that the fog machines or dry ice left a film on the octagon mat that was slippery and this lead to Conor falling down in the first place. Meh! I'm not accepting that.

According to a quick websearch these machines are regularly used for dramatic effect before a wealth of professional fights including WWE, One Championship, Bellator, and yes, UFC. So why is it only an issue right now. I call this a case dismissed.

Conor himself has called for the fight to be changed to a "no contest" because of the supposed slippery conditions but given the track record of prize fighting in a general sense I believe that this is highly unlikely to happen and it will remain a TKO, and it should.

I would say that the best response that UFC and Conor could have possibly given to the media and consumer outcry would be to talk about it as little as possible and that is exactly what they have done. Conor himself is either utilizing great restraint or is being told to keep his mouth shut. He has only given very vague indications about his future and saying that he has one fight remaining on his contract with UFC and that he will be back for his proper final fight in 2027.

I admire this in a way even though I am sure that they weighed all of their options for damage control and their lawyers and focus groups probably came to the conclusion that 'no news is the best news" in this situation.

The media will no doubt continue to badger Dana White the point of annoyance and Dana will do what he does and change the subject suggesting the obvious that "Conor is not on the card tonight, next question."

The fans were rightfully outraged at this outcome as this event was the most expensive UFC event to date with top level "nosebleed section" tickets going for over $1000 each. I think it is insane that anyone would pay that much for a ticket to anything but what people do with their own money is certainly none of my concern.

UFC has some pretty stacked minor events for the next few months but the hope was that the White House event was going to be fantastic (it was) and that the McGregor comeback fight was going to run out the summer as the biggest event of the year. That was a complete failure. The fans know this, the UFC knows this. Their silence about the issue is deafening and honestly, it is the best thing that they possibly could have done since they are not in the business of issuing refunds.