Conor McGregor threw injury-causing kick in disastrous UFC 329 return because ‘he was nervous,’ Matt Brown believes

Conor McGregor’s highly discussed kick that led to his quick downfall at UFC 329 has a simple explanation if you ask Matt Brown.

McGregor had been away from pro MMA competition for five years when he fought Max Holloway at UFC 329 this past Saturday. The only problem was that this wasn’t much of a fight. The “Notorious” one went for a jumping kick and ended up landing awkwardly, which impacted his right knee. McGregor struggled to move around and fell to the canvas several times before referee Mike Beltran called the bout off due to the injury.

While many have questioned why McGregor chose to go for such a risky kick at the start of his return fight, Brown took to MMAFighting‘s “The Fighter vs. The Writer” to share his belief that the Irish megastar was feeling the jitters.

“The reason that happened, I think Conor was nervous,” Brown said. “I thought Max said it perfect — I think he was weak in the knees. He was nervous. I don’t think he looked 100 percent himself. A lot of people have talked about that. I’m not one judge to body language too much, because I’ve made the mistake where you judge body language and then they perform great. I don’t think that’s necessarily the best way to look at it, but he’s always been a man of very, very high confidence, and he lived up to that, to what he always said he was going to do, for so long.”

Brown still commends McGregor for having the bravado to accept a return fight against someone as tough as Holloway.

“He had the plan to come out with that kick and went for it and with all this said, all respect to Conor. He does shoot for the stars. He goes for the biggest bag he could get. He chose Max Holloway. That’s a f*cking commendable thing to do. It didn’t work out.”

Some believe that McGregor’s time under the UFC banner is done despite having one more bout left on his deal. Many within the fight game have been calling for McGregor to do a few boxing matches if he truly wants to keep fighting.

Do you think Conor McGregor was nervous leading up to his injury during the UFC 329 main event? Share your thoughts in the comments below.