A stunning result in the octagon turned out to be the worst case scenario for bettors and sweat-free, lucrative win for sportsbooks.
“Conor McGregor-Max Holloway was the most bet MMA event in BetMGM history,” BetMGM trading manager Alex Rella said in a statement on social media Sunday morning. BetMGM also noted that it was the second-most bet combat event in the sportsbook’s history behind Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.
Conor McGregor made his long-awaited UFC return Saturday night after a five-year layoff and had bettors backing him at a staggering rate. McGregor was the most-bet fighter to win in terms of tickets and money wagered despite being a +240 underdog on the moneyline at BetMGM.
Three of the most bet props at BetMGM for UFC 329 were all on McGregor as well: McGregor by KO/TKO was the most-bet prop at +275, McGregor by submission (25/1) had the third-most tickets and McGregor by decision (14/1) had the fourth-most.
The same was true at DraftKings where 92 percent of the money and 68 percent of the tickets were on Notorious to win outright. McGregor by KO/TKO represented 30 percent of betting tickets and 34 percent of the handle.
All of those bets went up in smoke in a little over one minute. McGregor appeared to injure his knee attempting a flying roundhouse kick to open his fight against Max Holloway.
The kick didn’t land, but when McGregor did, he could be seen reaching toward his leg as he tried to brace his fall. Seconds later, McGregor tried to put his weight on the leg, but came up lame and the referee called the fight for Holloway.
McGregor quickly left the octagon after the fight was called and took heavy criticism from analyst Joe Rogan for his “crazy move.”
“When you throw that jumping roundhouse kick, if you don’t land in a good way with the supporting leg, you put so much pressure on that knee,” Rogan said during the post fight breakdown. “He jumped up, he threw it, and he landed with his knee in the worst position.”
Fans also questioned if McGregor was healthy going into the fight, but he quickly pushed back on those rumors on social media.
“My head gasket is gone. Destroyed,” McGregor wrote on X after the loss. “I had no injury / injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.”
Whether it was bad luck or bad decision making, the result lit tons of betting tickets on fire and gave sportsbooks one of their easiest wins of the year against the public.
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Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
