Opinion: Conor McGregor fight leaves more questions, but Nate Diaz might be the answer
Nevin Barich
Host · Writer
Conor McGregor's return to the Octagon at UFC 329 was another chance for the fighter to answer the biggest question hanging over his career: Did he still have enough left to compete at the highest level?
Instead, more questions were raised.
Whether McGregor injured his right knee during Saturday night's loss to Max Holloway or entered the fight already compromised ultimately doesn't change the larger conversation surrounding one of the UFC's biggest stars. What matters is that, once again, McGregor left a fight with questions about his health rather than his future in the sport.
It's a troubling pattern.
Over the past five years, McGregor has endured three significant injuries, the most notable being the gruesome broken leg he suffered against Dustin Poirier in 2021. Every comeback has required years of rehabilitation, months of speculation, and an enormous promotional push built around the hope that fans would once again see the McGregor of old.
At some point, however, even the sport's biggest attraction reaches a crossroads.
For years, McGregor's name alone guaranteed blockbuster pay-per-view numbers. Fans didn't necessarily need a compelling matchup because McGregor himself was the event. But repeated layoffs, injuries, and losses have made it increasingly difficult to market him as an active title contender or as someone capable of carrying a major UFC card against the division's elite.
That isn't meant as criticism as much as recognition of the realities of combat sports. Fighters age. Bodies break down. The qualities that once made them must-see attractions become harder to rely upon when long absences become as much a part of the story as the fights themselves.
That's why it's difficult to envision the public embracing McGregor as the headline attraction against virtually any contender in the UFC's lightweight or welterweight divisions. Fans have spent years waiting for his next appearance, only to watch injuries and inactivity repeatedly interrupt the momentum.
There may, however, be one exception.
If there is a fight that could still justify McGregor headlining another UFC pay-per-view, it's a trilogy bout with Nate Diaz.
On paper, it makes little competitive sense. Diaz hasn't looked like the fighter who pushed McGregor to the limit nearly a decade ago, and his recent performance did little to suggest he's among the sport's elite. Likewise, McGregor is no longer the unstoppable force who burst onto the scene and transformed the UFC into a global business powerhouse.
But logic has never been the driving force behind the McGregor-Diaz rivalry.
Their first two fights remain among the most memorable in UFC history, producing unforgettable moments, massive pay-per-view numbers, and one of mixed martial arts' greatest rivalries. Even today, both men possess the personalities and history to generate interest that extends well beyond hardcore fight fans.
Would it be a meaningful fight in the championship picture? Almost certainly not.
Would it feel more like a celebration of two stars from a previous era than a contest to determine who belongs among the sport's best? Probably.
But not every main event has to shape a title race. Some exist because fans simply want to see two familiar rivals settle unfinished business one last time.
After UFC 329, that may be the only McGregor fight that still carries that kind of appeal. It wouldn't be about championships or rankings. It would be about nostalgia, history, and giving two of the UFC's biggest stars one final chapter in a rivalry that helped define an era.
