Dana White came back on stage after the UFC 329 post-fight press conference appeared to be over so he could push back on the idea that Conor McGregor carried a hidden knee injury into his rematch with Max Holloway.
McGregor opened the fight with a jumping kick, landed awkwardly, and could not keep his right leg under him. Holloway was awarded the first-round injury TKO, as detailed in the Holloway vs. McGregor result post. Afterward, some fans and commentators questioned whether McGregor had already been compromised before the bell.
Speaking at the UFC 329 post-fight press conference, White said he could not know every detail of McGregor’s knee before the fight. Still, he pointed to the medical checks, the earlier press conference, the weigh-ins, and the public faceoff footage as evidence that nothing obvious was there.
“The doctors checked him out before the fight, and he looked damn good at the press conference, and he looked fine at the weigh-ins.”
“If anybody saw anything that could have possibly made him look weak or injured leading up to this fight, I mean, what did the faceoff do? More than 44 million views. Somebody would have saw something. Anybody see something? No. If they did, they didn’t say it, which is impossible. Nobody would do that.”
Then, after telling the room good night, White returned to the microphone and brought the topic back up himself. This time, he used the larger view count from his own accounts and again said the available footage did not support the theory.
“Crazy. So, when we were talking about the guy over here earlier asking about there being a pre-injury, just on my accounts, the faceoff that day is at 80 million views, right? So, if there was a pre-existing injury, somebody would have noticed it. He was limping. Put his shoes on. He ran right at him. I don’t think there was. Anything is possible, but he sure didn’t look like it. And for 80 million just on my accounts, that number’s got to be massive. And nobody noticed anything. So there you go.”
Warm-Up Footage Shows The Same Kick
The follow-up evidence was the backstage warm-up clip. In the video, McGregor can be seen moving around and drilling the same style of kick before walking to the cage.
🚨 The UFC just released Conor McGregor’s pre-fight warm-up footage, showing no obvious signs of injury coming into the fight
He was even drilling the exact same kick that appeared to injure him during the fight pic.twitter.com/oDrlxqUjBB
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 12, 2026
The clip does not diagnose anything by itself, but it does match the point White was making. McGregor was not standing still backstage. He was bouncing, throwing kicks, and preparing to open aggressively before the fight fell apart.
McGregor also denied carrying a pre-fight injury in his own statement. He said the knee issue came out of nowhere and that he had been throwing both planted and jumping kicks throughout camp and backstage before the fight.
My head gasket is gone. Destroyed. I had no injury / injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 12, 2026
Different From The ACL Update
This is separate from White’s earlier medical update, where he said UFC doctors suspected a blown ACL and were waiting on an MRI. The Dana White injury update covers that medical lane.
The question here is narrower: whether McGregor was already hurt before UFC 329 started. White argued that the faceoff, medical checks, weigh-ins, and warm-up footage all cut against that idea. McGregor’s own statement said the same thing from his side.
The injury still leaves the trilogy picture messy. Holloway now has a UFC win over McGregor after their 2013 meeting went the other way, but any third fight depends on McGregor’s medical timeline. Holloway has already said he can wait until 2027 in the Max Holloway trilogy follow-up.
