LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Former double world champion Conor McGregor lost to Max Holloway after only 69 seconds because of a right knee injury on Saturday, in his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after a five-year layoff.

Referee Mike Beltran stopped the mixed martial arts welterweight contest at UFC 329 in Las Vegas after Ireland's McGregor, 37, fell to the mat three times in the first minute.

McGregor jumped and launched a roundhouse kick at Holloway in the opening seconds, but hurt his right knee as he planted his foot.

He crumpled twice more and grabbed at his right knee, prompting Beltran to end the bout.

"What can I say? I had him weak in the knees I guess," Holloway said.

"So much hype. We've got to run it back one more time," he said. "For it to end like this sucks."

McGregor walked out of the octagon without comment and Holloway hoped the Irishman's injury was "not too crazy."

Holloway said he knew his opponent was in trouble when he backed off.

"I could tell. His whole demeanor changed. He said, 'Fight! Fight!'," Holloway added.

In what McGregor called "the comeback of all comebacks in sports history," the bout was a rematch of a 2013 featherweight fight which the Irishman won by unanimous decision.

McGregor had not fought since breaking his left leg in a 2021 defeat to American Dustin Poirier.

McGregor had been the UFC's most marketable star before that injury, in 2016 becoming the first to hold two titles simultaneously at different weights.

He reportedly earned more than $100 million for losing a boxing superfight against Floyd Mayweather in 2017.

McGregor's last UFC victory was a 40-second triumph over American Donald Cerrone in January 2020.

Earlier, England's Paddy Pimblett stopped France's Benoit Saint Denis by submission after only 52 seconds of a lightweight bout.