Ireland’s Conor McGregor is facing 10 months outside the UFC octagon after an MRI scan on an injury sustained in his latest win revealed extensive damage to his knee.

The Dubliner won a unanimous decision against Max Holloway in Boston last weekend, but confirmed afterwards that a drastic tactical change in the second round was the result of his knee popping as he escaped from the Hawaiian's heel hook.

After the bout, which he won on a score of 30-27, 30-27, 30-26, the Irishman suggested he might need a month or so off his feet but the reality is a lot worse, according to UFC president Dana White, who arranged for McGregor to see a specialist after the fight.

White confirmed on Fox Sports live that McGregor had torn his ACL and posterior horn meniscus and strained his MCL, meaning the fighter will not see action again until sometime next summer.

McGegor was dominant on his feet in the first round but after feeling his knee go in the second and finding it “wobbly” when he stood up, he repeatedly took the bout to the ground where he continued to control affairs before the final bell.

“I should have just pulled my knee from my leg and hit him with it,” he joked afterwards.

On Saturday night, White gave his clearest hint yet that the UFC was planning a visit to Dublin in the third quarter of 2014 and if there is a silver lining for McGregor it will be the prospect of making his comeback on home soil, when top flight mixed martial arts returns to these shores for the first time since 2009.