McGregor Calls Holloway Trilogy 'The Last Dance'

After suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in his UFC 329 loss to Max Holloway, Conor McGregor framed a potential 2027 trilogy as the final chapter of his MMA career.

"What was to be a generational beating is now to be reset. International Fight Week 2027, the last dance,” McGregor

McGregor attempted a spinning wheel kick seconds into the opening round and came down wrong, immediately signaling distress before referee Herb Dean waved it off. It was the same leg McGregor shattered against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021 — this time the other one.

Dana White addressed the timeline at the Zuffa Boxing post-event press conference, confirming McGregor will need at least a year to recover. That puts any realistic return in mid-to-late 2027 at the earliest, which aligns with McGregor's International Fight Week reference and makes the Holloway trilogy the obvious endpoint if everything goes according to plan.

Conor has not won a UFC fight since knocking out Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in 2020. At 36, with two significant leg injuries and five years removed from a victory, the retirement conversation has been building for some time. McGregor has consistently dismissed it.

The question of whether his body will cooperate is the one nobody can answer right now. ACL and meniscus injuries are recoverable with proper rehabilitation, and fighters have returned from comparable setbacks at similar ages. The concern for McGregor is the pattern, not just the injury. Whether the trilogy happens is a long way from settled. He has a year of rehabilitation to get through first.