The anticlimactic ending to one of the biggest MMA fights of the year still bothers many. However, for some, it was troubling not just for the way it ended but for what it represented. Conor McGregor’s ambitious return at UFC 329 on July 11 against Max Holloway after a five-year hiatus ended in just 69 seconds after an awkwardly thrown roundhouse kick left the Irishman with an injured knee. While Holloway was handed the win and McGregor limped his way out of the T-Mobile Arena, the injury, which has since been confirmed to be an ACL tear, has ruled the 38-year-old out for yet another year.

With it falls apart one of the most talked-about crossover fights in recent combat history—the Conor McGregor vs Logan Paul fight. During a recent episode of the Impaulsive podcast from ‌Fanatics Fest, the older Paul brother revealed that he reached out to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque shortly after McGregor’s loss to Max Holloway to pitch a match between the two in the WWE.

“Something I find so funny: [Conor McGregor] definitely has roasted the WWE and WWE superstars in the past,” he told UFC star Sean O’Malley. “He put out a tweet dissing Roman Reigns. At the moment, Conor is doing WWE. He is incapable of fighting.

“I don’t think that WWE will let me fight anyone. I mean, I’ll be honest with you. I texted, I texted my boss after Conor lost. I was like, ‘Bro, Conor’s cooked. Like, do something. Do something with it. Like make a bag. Let me fight him. Big WWE star versus big WWE star because that’s what he is now.’”

However, Paul’s proposal to Triple H was immediately nixed by the WWE boss for one reason.

“No,” Paul confirmed. “He said he thinks [Conor] is done.”

The exchange suggests WWE has little confidence that McGregor will return to competition in a meaningful way following another major knee injury. While Sean O’Malley believes McGregor would return, it still doesn’t mean a fight between Paul and McGregor can ever happen, regardless of the format in which it happens. And there’s a reason for that.

Conor McGregor still has one fight left on his UFC contract, which means if and when he does make his return to active competition, his first move will be to secure his last fight in the UFC. The fact that next year around this time, Conor will be 39, suggests that he is unlikely to extend his contract with the UFC. While there’s a possibility of a crossover bout between McGregor and Paul outside of the UFC after that, the same way 44-year-old Floyd Mayweather fought Logan Paul back in June 2021, it still remains far-fetched.

The format is another thing that offers another problem: Will it be boxing or MMA? Will it be an exhibition crossover boxing like Floyd’s? And who will promote it and where? Or will it be inside the WWE like Paul presented to Triple H? For now, there’s no way to know.

The talks about the same fight, but in a boxing format, gained momentum back in late 2024 after Conor McGregor revealed that he was “in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India.” Several outlets revealed that the purse for the potential fight between the two was an astronomical $250 million to be paid by the Ambani family in India. However, the weeks that followed in early 2025 saw Conor McGregor reveal that the UFC had nixed the fight plans since he had a running contract with them.

So while the two can pick up where they left off back in early 2025, it can still only happen after he’s done with his last fight in the UFC. This means the possibility of such a bout is nowhere close to reality, at least for the next year and a half.

For now, Conor McGregor’s immediate focus remains on his surgery.

Conor McGregor details the injury he suffered at UFC 329

“Update: It was acl and meniscus,” McGregor shared on X a few days ago. “It is the same injury as the first Holloway fight, only this time the opposite leg.”

Coincidentally, the Irishman had torn his ACL during his first fight with Max Holloway back in 2013. At the time, as McGregor said, it was his left knee, unlike the right one this time around. While he went on to win the fight via unanimous decision back in 2013, the injury at the time ruled him out of competition for a considerable time.

While he returned 11 months later to fight Diego Brandão in July 2014, this time around he is much older and has suffered more damage over his long career, including the gruesome leg break against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. However, the former UFC double champ remains hopeful a return could be sooner this time.

“With today’s regenerative medicine advancements and improved training methods it is well within my realm to return by next summer,” he added in the same post. “I am walking without a crutch. I done leg extension machine work the other day to no issue. So I can walk without aid, and activate my quad under resistance. All very positive.”

With surgery and subsequent rehabilitation taking up the better part of this year and the next, his return to UFC may get pushed back to late 2027. Only then can we even consider a potential fight with Logan Paul. Meanwhile, even the older Paul brother is currently recovering from a torn triceps injury he sustained a few months ago.