“You could see it in his face”

Alan Jouban recently shared his thoughts on Conor McGregor vowing to make a return to fighting next summer.

McGregor returned to fighting in a rematch against Max Holloway at UFC 329 earlier this month, nearly five years after his ill-fated trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. While many expected fireworks, McGregor suffered a nasty injury after attempting a flying kick just seconds into the opening round, and the referee was forced to stop the fight.

Ultimately, Holloway got his hand raised via first-round knockout. In the aftermath, McGregor confirmed suffering an ACL and meniscus tear in the right leg and claimed that he’s looking forward to fighting next year.

Given McGregor’s injury history, Jouban doesn’t believe that the Irishman could fight next year. In an interview with MMA Junkie, the UFC analyst reflected on his own injuries as a former fighter and said:

“I don’t know if we see him come back. I know he wants to come back. I know for a fact Conor’s never going to look the same. I know for a fact, he will not look the same… You could see it in his face. The face doesn’t always tell the story of the body. But the face matched the body. We saw that walkout with Max. The fight IQ was gone.”

He added:

“I’m a guy that’s had five knee surgeries and ACLs on both legs. Both times I’ve torn my ACL is when I’ve gotten airborne… At 37 years old, not to know your body and to go and shoot for a high-risk, low-reward move… His body is not the same, his head’s not the same, and his fight IQ wasn’t the same.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Conor McGregor drops bold return timeline hint after UFC 329 loss

Conor McGregor recently took to social media to drop a potential timeline for his return.

In an Instagram post, the Irishman also claimed that his rematch against Holloway was a “no-contest” and wrote:

“The white orange and green machine. mosying on back to the office, up the office! Sorry I’m late but the dry ice has the cage floor wet it’s a no contest now chop chop for the champ champ I’ll see ya’s next year 100%.”