When Conor McGregor, MMA’s most bankable pay-per-view star, picked a fight with the UFC, he challenged an opponent that packed a significantly larger punch.
The 27-year-old, more than any of his contemporaries in the UFC, understands his value to the elite mixed martial arts promotion.
His last two pay-per-view bouts have both sold north of a million units and set Las Vegas attendance records for the company, two factors that give the Irishman significant leverage and power.
Simply put, no hand that the UFC could possibly play is bigger than a McGregor fight right now. Not the return of Ronda Rousey, not a CM Punk debut, nothing.
Given that, it seemed like a no-brainer for the company’s biggest star to be the headline attraction at the year’s biggest pay-per-view event, UFC 200.
By now, everyone knows that’s not happening.
The SBG Ireland poster boy took his behind-the-scene squabbles public several weeks ago by announcing one of the shortest retirement in the history of sports.
McGregor dug his feet in the sand, refusing to budge on issues of money and media commitments. The UFC countered by benching the golden goose, and eventually replacing him altogether.
According to ESPN, that body blow to McGregor will be a costly one, with their team estimating the UFC is leaving $45 million on the table by moving forward without the fighting Irishman.
Don’t forget, though, this stings McGregor more than the UFC. The July pay-per-view will be a multi-million dollar night with or without the Dubliner.
McGregor, on the other hand, is missing out on a massive payday, reportedly to the tune of $10 million.
“Big” John McCarthy, the UFC’s longest tenured referee, revealed the details of a recent conversation he had with Lorenzo Fertitta, the owner of the company, on his podcast, Let’s Get It On..
“I talked to Lorenzo Fertitta at UFC 197 standing in the back and we started talking,” McCarthy said.
“And he said: ‘I never thought that when I had a guy guaranteed $10 million I would have a problem.’”
Fertitta was wrong. McGregor has never been satisfied with the status quo, he’s always been chasing a bigger percentage of the profits.
That level of ambition is the reason he became a UFC champion with a rags-to-riches story fitting of a Hollywood blockbuster, and it’s the same reason he’ll probably always be Fertitta’s most feared opponent at the negotiation table.
In the immediate aftermath of the UFC versus McGregor media circus, there’s no mistaking that the champion fighter lost the battle, and he may have lost the war as well.
McGregor’s last-ditch desperation play to get on the card last week by blatantly lying and announcing he’s back on UFC 200 upset some of his biggest supporters.
Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200!
Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 25, 2016
It’s one thing to mess with the UFC billionaires club on social media, but another to play games with your fans.
McGregor will be back in the Octagon in the not-so-distant future, probably for a rematch with Nate Diaz. The fight was already a high-stakes clash for McGregor, but now he has raised the pot.
UFC’s fan base has thrown their support behind McGregor for his ability to talk trash like a prime Muhammad Ali and back up every single word.
Would that group, who McGregor just used as a pawn on Twitter, stand by his side when he’s the only UFC champion in history to lose two fights in a row and still hold onto his gold? The jury is still out on that one.
It’s been said that prizefighting at the elite level is a pressure cooker situation, and heading into McGregor’s second fight of 2016 he has turned up the heat to 100, setting up a must-win situation.
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