martial

Facing Holloway at UFC 329, Irishman McGregor seemed to injure his right knee in the first round when jumping in with a kick.

Conor McGregor’s much-hyped ‌return to the octagon lasted just over a minute on ⁠Saturday after the ⁠Irishman blew out his knee and retired injured in his UFC 329 fight with Max Holloway in Las Vegas.

Former two-weight ⁠world champion McGregor, who had not fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021, attempted a flying kick to start ⁠the opening round but landed awkwardly and immediately looked in trouble.

He tried to fight on for a few seconds but looked towards the referee to signal he could not continue.

Former featherweight champ Holloway said he would discuss ‌the possibility of staging another fight with McGregor when the Irishman recovers.

“It is what it is, I’m going to sit down with the UFC,” Holloway added. “(There was) so much hype for that right there. We’ve got to run it back one more time. One more time for the boys.”

Saturday’s bout was the second between the ⁠pair, with McGregor winning by unanimous decision in 2013.

Injuries ⁠and issues away from the sport have derailed McGregor’s career.

After breaking his leg against Poirier five years ago, the 37-year-old was slated to meet Michael Chandler in June 2024, but that was cancelled after McGregor suffered a broken toe in training.

Later that year, a jury in ⁠an Irish civil court found him liable ⁠for the rape of Nikita Hand in 2018.

In October 2025, he accepted an 18-month ban for “whereabouts failures” after he missed three attempts by Combat Sports Anti-Doping to collect biological samples ‌from him in 2024. The ban was backdated and expired in March.

In the co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Britain’s Paddy ‌Pimblett ‌also needed less than a minute to secure victory, choking out Frenchman Benoit Saint-Denis in their lightweight bout.

Former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday after a district court found him guilty of playing a key role in an insurrection through his involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law bid.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the heavy punishment for Park, which surpassed the 20-year prison term sought by special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team. The court immediately placed Park under custody, citing concerns that he may destroy evidence.

Cho’s team earlier indicted Park on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abusing his power by calling a meeting of senior ministry officials following Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.

The court convicted Park on both charges, recognizing the special counsel team’s argument that Park had called the meeting to review dispatching prosecutors to a martial law-supporting body, check the capacity of correctional facilities, allegedly to hold politicians and key figures expected to be arrested under the martial law, and order ministry officials in charge of imposing travel bans to report for work.

“The defendant ultimately turned his back on his duty of upholding the Constitution at the idea that the insurrection could succeed, choosing to instead take part in it,” the court said.

Park joins other members of Yoon’s Cabinet who have been convicted of playing a key role in an insurrection, including former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.

In February, Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law. He has appealed the ruling.

Meanwhile, the court dismissed additional charges against Park for violating the anti-graft law, ruling that it did not fall under the special counsel’s investigation mandate.

The special counsel team had also indicted Park on charges of giving inappropriate orders to his subordinates in line with a request from Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, in May 2024, to check certain details of the prosecution’s investigation into her corruption allegations.

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A special counsel team has determined former President Yoon Suk Yeol had prepared to declare martial law since late 2023, about a year before his failed bid in December 2024, officials said Monday.

Assistant special counsel Kim Ji-mi said in a briefing that the team has determined that Yoon had made preparations for martial law since November 2023 after questioning former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo.

The now-retired admiral is said to have told the team last month that Yoon asked him whether he would do anything he would order when they met on Nov. 29, 2023.

Yoon allegedly flew into a rage when he said he would follow them if they were just orders.

The team, led by special counsel Kwon Chang-young, has left open the possibility that Yoon’s alleged remarks may have been part of preliminary efforts to recruit top military officials for his martial law bid.

Kwon’s team earlier said Yoon appeared to be preparing for martial law since the first half of 2024, citing the outcome of its questioning of a military counterintelligence official.

Meanwhile, a separate special counsel team that ended its mandate late last year after a probe into Yoon had determined that martial law preparations took place before October 2023. The team cited a notebook belonging to a retired general convicted in connection with Yoon’s martial law bid.

A Seoul court, however, did not recognize the notebook as evidence during Yoon’s insurrection trial, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment over his failed martial law bid.

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