TJ Dillashaw and Michael Bisping went in different directions when the JAXXON Podcast panel broke down Conor McGregor after UFC 329. Dillashaw focused on the personality McGregor needs if he is going to fight again. Bisping focused on the way McGregor framed the injury loss through God’s Plan.
McGregor’s comeback against Max Holloway ended after only 69 seconds. Holloway defeated McGregor by TKO due to injury at 1:09 of Round 1, moving to 28-9 and evening their rivalry at 1-1 after McGregor’s 2013 decision win. McGregor dropped to 22-7, and his last victory is still the 2020 Donald Cerrone stoppage.
UFC posted the official result after the short main event.
Max Holloway defeats Conor McGregor by TKO in Round 1#UFC329 pic.twitter.com/52BnFWgeh2
— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2026
McGregor later posted on Instagram about faith, surgery, prehab, and the last fight on his UFC deal.
“My faith is unconditional and I’m thankful I get to prove it,” McGregor wrote.
“Surgery, prehab, return to martial arts practice. Go again. Final fight of the contract. Please God,” McGregor wrote.
McGregor posted the recovery message on Instagram after the Holloway loss.
Happy Punch also shared McGregor’s recovery-plan post on X.
Conor McGregor says he will have surgery and return to MMA
“Go again. Final fight of the contract. Please God!” pic.twitter.com/yFFrnxeSVd
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) July 13, 2026
JAXXON Panel Noticed McGregor Looked Different Before The Injury
The discussion did not begin with the Instagram message. The JAXXON panel first talked about McGregor’s walkout energy, the pre-fight body language, and the opening seconds against Holloway.
“I will say though, he did not have the aura you’re used to seeing,” one panelist said.
“His face just looks scared and confused,” one panelist said.
The group also pointed out that Holloway seemed to recognize the injury quickly. After McGregor slipped and tried to continue, the panel said Holloway looked toward the referee rather than rushing into unnecessary damage.
“McGregor was telling him while he was there on the floor, ‘Keep fighting,'” one panelist said.
“Max is such a cool dude,” one panelist said. “He’s like, ‘Come on, dude. I don’t want to hurt this guy.'”
“Max deserves all the flowers in the world for that,” one panelist said.
Bisping said the whole scene changed the building because the crowd had come in expecting a major McGregor moment.
“When Max ran in the octagon and jumped off the side of the post, I was like, ‘Oh, he looks fast, spritly, energetic, agile at 170,'” Bisping said.
“Nobody expected this,” Bisping said. “It just sucked the wind out of the arena. The disappointment, it was palpable.”
“I really felt for everyone that paid so much money for these tickets,” Bisping said.
Dillashaw Says McGregor Still Plans First Moves Like The Aldo Fight
Dillashaw, who held UFC bantamweight gold and retired at 18-5, did not treat McGregor’s opening attack as random. He connected it to McGregor’s history of scripting the first exchange and trying to make an immediate statement.
“We’ve seen him do it before,” Dillashaw said. “He’s a guy that plans his first move.”
“Look at Aldo,” Dillashaw said. “He’s in the back practicing that step back left cross because he knew Aldo was going to come at him.”
“He visualizes things so much,” Dillashaw said. “He picks his first move every time.”
That gave the panel a cleaner read on why McGregor opened with something explosive after a five-year layoff. It was not conservative, but it fit McGregor’s history as a fast starter who has built his biggest moments around timing, posture, and the first read.
“He’s always been a fast starter, always been explosive,” one panelist said. “I think he just wanted to send a message to Max immediately.”
“The problem is when he landed, he blew his knee out,” one panelist said.
Dillashaw Wants The Old Notorious Edge Back
That is where Dillashaw moved from tactics to personality. His point was not that McGregor needs a safer game plan. It was that the public version of McGregor after the loss does not sound like the same fighter who became the biggest star in MMA.
“I don’t want the new Conor, God’s Plan,” Dillashaw said.
“I want him to be the fucking man,” Dillashaw said.
“The guy that’s like, no one can tell him fucking shit, he’s sorry for nothing,” Dillashaw said. “That’s the guy that’s going to get him back.”
Dillashaw’s criticism was about identity. He was arguing that McGregor’s confidence, arrogance, and refusal to apologize were part of the old Notorious edge, not just promotional noise.
Bisping Rips The God’s Plan Framing
Bisping, the former UFC middleweight champion who finished his career at 30-9, made a separate point. He said he was not attacking religion, but he did not like the way fighters often turn losses into God’s Plan language.
“It’s got nothing to do with religion,” Bisping said.
“Don’t give me this God’s Plan bullshit,” Bisping said.
“Any time someone loses a fight, every time, it’s God’s Plan,” Bisping said. “Shut the fuck up.”
“God wants us fighting,” Bisping said.
“Like God gives a fuck,” Bisping said.
“No blasphemy intended,” Bisping said.
The full JAXXON Podcast episode is below.
McGregor’s Final Contract Fight Still Drives The Question
The panel then moved into what McGregor can realistically do next. His Instagram message pointed to surgery and one final contracted UFC fight, but the group kept coming back to the injury itself.
“It seems like he wants to finish that final contract,” one panelist said.
“I think he’s going to want to come back,” one panelist said. “He doesn’t want to end his… I mean, it’s pretty embarrassing.”
“He wants to come back and get a win,” one panelist said. “He wants to come back and make some more money because that’s what makes the world go around.”
Bisping said the timeline changes completely if the injury is more serious than a meniscus issue.
“It depends on the injury,” Bisping said. “If it’s an ACL, he just spent five years out.”
“If it’s a full ACL, that’s a year, two years, and then now he’s 40,” Bisping said.
Dillashaw also brought up McGregor’s first Holloway fight in 2013, when McGregor suffered a major knee injury but still won a decision before going on to become the UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion.
“Dana text me and was like, ‘Are you with Conor McGregor right now?'” Dillashaw said.
“Came and told Conor that he had a torn ACL,” Dillashaw said. “He just got that against Max Holloway the first time.”
“He went on to have a legendary career,” Dillashaw said. “Is it over? We don’t know. Does he come back? I don’t know. Probably though would be my guess.”
There was also a business angle. If McGregor gets one more UFC walkout, Bisping argued the promotion is more likely to choose a fight that lets him sell a final chapter than a nightmare matchup with no name value.
“If he’s going to have his final fight of his career and go off, you’re going to give him a fight like Michael Chandler where he can go and shine?” Bisping said.
“Or you going to give him someone from Kyrgyzstan that no one’s heard of that’s just going to wrestle him to death?” Bisping said.
That leaves the same problem McGregor had before UFC 329, only with another injury attached. He has the star power, one contracted fight left by his own account, and familiar names like Holloway and Chandler still in the conversation. What changed is the question JAXXON kept circling: whether the old Notorious edge is still available when the body keeps stopping the comeback.
McGregor has already posted a public message saying “We’ll be back”. Matt Brown questioned whether he looked right before the injury and said McGregor looked “weak in the knees”. Holloway has also taken criticism from Chael Sonnen for the trilogy callout, with Sonnen arguing that Holloway pointed back at an injured opponent instead of a fresh lightweight name.
