Sonnen declares McGregor 'cannot main event' UFC cards after second straight injury exit

Chael Sonnen has declared that Conor McGregor can no longer be trusted to headline UFC cards, arguing that back-to-back injury-shortened main events have made the Irishman impossible to repackage and sell to fans.

McGregor suffered a knee injury within seconds of his rematch with Max Holloway at UFC 329, leaving him unable to maintain his footing as he attempted to throw strikes. The referee stopped the contest, marking the second consecutive McGregor main event to end in injury — his previous outing, a trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier in 2021, ended with a leg break that kept him out of competition for nearly four years.

“It was one of these things where there was nothing to take away from it,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie following the fight. “There was no redeemable quality. I think Conor mentally was in the right spot, but the contest is physical.”

Sonnen drew comparisons to other high-profile UFC stars who found themselves shut out of main event slots after prolonged losing streaks or diminished returns, citing Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar, and Anderson Silva as fighters UFC CEO Dana White ultimately declined to feature in marquee positions again.

“You cannot main event him,” Sonnen said. “You cannot repackage and sell this story, nor would they be interested. Chuck Liddell was very close friends with Dana White. Brock Lesnar just wanted to do it again. Anderson Silva said, ‘Hey, put me in one more time.’ Dana does not give back on that.”

Sonnen went further, suggesting that even if McGregor were somehow cleared of serious injury, the outcome for his UFC future would be the same. “If we were to say, ‘Boy, we got lucky, in fact, a step further, the [doctor] misdiagnosed this, he’s completely fine’ — we don’t see him fight again,” he said.

McGregor, a former two-division UFC champion, has not won a fight since defeating Donald Cerrone in January 2020. His status as one of the sport’s biggest pay-per-view draws has long insulated him from the scrutiny applied to other fighters on losing runs, but Sonnen’s assessment reflects a growing sentiment that the Irishman’s commercial appeal may no longer be enough to sustain top-of-card billing.