UFC 329 Results: Holloway's Corner Stops McGregor in 69 Seconds, Bautista Nearly Locks Up a Rare Leg-and-Neck Submission

Reviewed by BJJ Gyms · Updated 2026-07-27

A Rematch That Ended Almost Before It Began

Conor McGregor's long-awaited return against Max Holloway lasted barely a minute. Going for an early highlight-reel kick, McGregor's knee gave out mid-motion and he never fully recovered his footing afterward. Holloway, sensing the opening, closed the distance and kept pressure on until the referee stepped in, ruling the fight a technical knockout caused by injury at 1:09 of the opening round.

For a card built around this rematch, the anticlimactic finish left plenty of unanswered questions about the striking-heavy gameplan McGregor had signaled during fight week. It also underlined something grapplers already understand well: a compromised base or an untested joint under load can end a night instantly, no matter how much power an athlete brings into the cage. Structured grappling training, by contrast, teaches practitioners how to fall, scramble, and absorb bad positions without the same catastrophic risk to a joint.

Bautista's Wrestling Clinic and a Near-Miss on a Rare Submission

Two fights before the main event, bantamweights Mario Bautista and Cory Sandhagen put on the most instructive grappling display of the night. Bautista spent large stretches of round one working toward a Suloev stretch, a compression-style hold that traps an opponent's own leg behind their head and neck, cutting off movement and, if held long enough, blood flow. Sandhagen defended the position well enough to survive, but he clearly favored the leg for the remainder of the fight.

Rather than fade after missing the finish, Bautista adjusted, controlling top position through much of round two before dropping Sandhagen with a strike late in round three to put the outcome beyond doubt on the scorecards. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Bautista, a tally that undersells just how one-sided the grappling exchanges actually were. The Suloev stretch takes its name from the sambo-turned-MMA competitor who popularized it, and it stays rare in the Octagon mostly because so few fighters recognize the setup in time to escape or capitalize on it.

A Full Card Built on Control, Not Just Power

The rest of the main card leaned the same direction. Brandon Royval reminded the flyweight division he still belongs near the top by locking in a rear naked choke in round three, a finish built on patient positioning rather than one explosive exchange. Earlier bouts told a similar story: fighters who could dictate where the fight happened, standing or on the mat, consistently had the better night regardless of who landed the harder single strike.

For a promotion often marketed around knockouts, UFC 329 served as a useful reminder that submissions, scrambles, and top control decide just as many nights, if not more. That is exactly the skill set built inside a jiu-jitsu academy rather than a boxing gym or a wrestling room alone, and it is a big part of why so many of the sport's most durable careers are built on a grappling foundation first.

Where This Leaves the Division and What to Watch Next

Holloway's win keeps him firmly in the title conversation as fans wait to see who gets lined up next, while McGregor now faces a recovery timeline before any future return can even be discussed. Bautista's performance, meanwhile, is exactly the kind of tape a contender wants on file: a full fifteen minutes imposing grappling on a ranked opponent while threatening a fight-ending submission most fans had never even heard of before Saturday.

If any of this has you curious about what a Suloev stretch, a rear naked choke, or basic top control actually feel like from the inside, the fastest way to find out is to step onto a mat yourself. A single trial class at a local jiu-jitsu gym will teach you more about positional control in an hour than a dozen fight cards will from the couch.

A Quick Field Guide to the Grappling on Display at UFC 329

If some of the terminology above was new to you, here is a plain-language breakdown of the concepts that decided Saturday's card.

1. Suloev Stretch: A leg-and-neck compression hold where an opponent's own leg gets pinned behind their head, restricting movement and eventually blood flow if it's held long enough. Rarely landed clean in MMA.
2. Rear Naked Choke: The choke Royval used to finish his fight, applied from behind an opponent's back with an arm around the neck and no gi grips required, which is why it's one of the first submissions taught in any no-gi class.
3. TKO by Injury: A stoppage called when a fighter can no longer intelligently defend themselves because of a physical injury rather than direct strikes, which is what ended the McGregor fight in round one.
4. Top Control: Staying on top of an opponent on the mat and limiting their ability to escape or attack, the skill that let Bautista win rounds even without a finish.
5. Scramble: A fast, chaotic exchange where position is up for grabs; fighters with sharper grappling instincts usually come out ahead in a scramble even when it looks like a coin flip in real time.
6. Guard Recovery: Getting your legs back between yourself and an opponent after being taken down, exactly what Sandhagen needed to do to survive Bautista's leg attacks.

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