Alan Jouban is quite pessimistic about Conor McGregor's ability to find any semblance of top form again after his UFC 329 injury.
Jouban knows a thing or two about ACL tears, and injuries. He's undergone procedures on both of his knees for the same injury McGregor (22-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) sustained just seconds into his rematch
with Max Holloway this month, and was the same age as "The Notorious" when the final one happened.Because of that, Jouban, who has become a prominent UFC analyst since his retirement from competition, knows exactly the uphill climb facing the Irishman as he tries to hit his summer 2027 timeline to complete the final fight on his UFC contract.
"I don't know if we see him come back," Jouban told MMA Junkie. "I know he wants to come back.
I know for a fact Conor's never going to look the same. I know for a fact, he will not look the same. Generational beating, he said? I think he saved himself from a generational beating. He was not going to look the same. You could see it in his face. The face doesn't always tell the story of the body. But the face matched the body. We saw that walkout with Max. The fight IQ was gone.
""I'm a guy that's had five knee surgeries and ACLs on both legs. Both times I've torn my ACL is when I've gotten airborne. The last time I tore my ACL was preparation for my final fight and I did a switch knee and blew my ACL. 37 years old, the same age as Conor McGregor. For him, a guy that knows his body so well – that's what made Conor McGregor so great. At 37 years old, not to know your body and to go and shoot for a high-risk, low-reward move. … His body is not the same, his head's not the same, and his fight IQ wasn't the same."
McGregor has made it clear that he is determined to overcome this obstacle and give the world the comeback it deserved at UFC 329 following his five-year hiatus from the octagon.
Jouban argues that the situation it too far gone, though, and even if he gets himself back into a position to fight again, the quality of athlete won't be what McGregor or the world has come to expect at this point.
There aren't many redeeming elements to all this, Jouban said, and he struggles to find a relevant name McGregor would be favored to beat.
"He had two fights left on this contract, and now he has one fight left," Jouban said. "We're not going to see the same Conor McGregor. Does he come back? Maybe so. Will we watch? Yes we will. You better give him a low-ranked fighter with a name (if he's going to win)."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alan Jouban knows 'for a fact' Conor McGregor won't be same after injury
