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The stakes are high in McGregor's 'quitgate'

Conor McGregor has threatened to end the career of Eddie Alvarez. (Image source: Flickr)
Roar Guru
21st April, 2016
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Regardless of whether Conor McGregor fights in UFC 200 after this week’s controversial retirement tweet, UFC front man Dana White may want to tweak his king-making guidelines.

If ‘The Notorious One’ unilaterally decided his share of the UFC brand juggernaut justified calling its bluff over a promotion no- show, it may also be partly due to White’s cavalier style of career puppetry.

White has never been shy of trumpeting his manipulation of career paths. He once famously claimed he’d used Chuck Liddell as Tito Ortiz’ “protector” via judicious match making, to milk what was left of the crowd-pulling Ortiz’ flagging stocks.

The same has been hinted about Ronda Rousey’s charmed run. When her burgeoning out-of-octagon commitments threatened to steal her from beneath White’s nose, sport’s then biggest poster girl was soon nursing a near-terminally scarred ego with physical bruises to match, courtesy of Holly Holmes’ world class kick boxing.

It’s clear that combat sport promotions thrive on larger than life figures, but the UFC’s capacity to pay “Mayweather money” seems not yet able to match their vast exposure levels.

Perhaps MMA has not been around long enough to have attracted boxing’s centuries-old “rusted-on” fan-base (though pedants could cite MMA’s millennia-old Penkration pedigree).

In McGregor’s case, he has arguably not yet finished proving his abilities against the best available. A quick knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 195 was likely helped by an incautious Aldo’s impatience to burst the Irishman’s bubble.

His ground game is also reportedly suspect at the highest level. It has twice looked uncompetitive, most recently when choked out by Nate Diaz.

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A contributing lack of fitness in that match also raised questions about his camp’s ability to prepare him at heavier weights.

Although never looking sharper than when picking Diaz off at will in their first round, by Round 2 he seemed to have traded his assassin’s garb for a Humphrey B Bear suit, so severely gassed did he look.

Diaz’ bloodied determination to survive the first round is easily overlooked.

By far McGregor’s biggest opportunity to send his combat credentials into the stratosphere, given his determination to transcend featherweight, was against brutal lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos.

The pair were to meet at UFC 196 until Dos Anjos broke his foot in training. The UFC deserves credit for quickly making lemonade from lemons by replacing Dos Anjos with in-form Nate Diaz; McGregor likewise for promptly accepting the double step up to Welterweight.

The pair duly trash-talked their way to a PPV record, McGregor putting on a masterclass of scalding pre-fight taunts, during which he ridiculed Diaz’s curiously languid frame.

“How can someone look fat and skinny at the same time” he guffawed.

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Likewise his assertion that Diaz’ uneven career path required him to teach kids’ jujitsu classes while affecting a street gang persona: “He makes gun signs with his right hand and animal balloons with his left”.

Those lines probably marked McGregor’s high point as the UFC’s favourite son.

If the current media argy-bargy between McGregor and White is nothing more contractual brinkmanship, or even a cynical promotion game, both risk emerging a little compromised, despite the publicity bonus.

But if the the Irishman goes ahead and quits (he has flagged an upcoming explanation of the situation) he may lose a good deal of public goodwill, while White could do a lot worse than to match Diaz with Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.

One wonders what would be left of McGregor’s quickly amassed riches if the UFC sued him over what seems, to the lay observer at least, a clear breach of contract.

Yet ultimately, White may have cause to review his past willingness to grease rapid ascensions to icon status. His tendency toward gushy praise, bordering on sycophancy, for such hastily built profiles has probably contributed to them getting ahead of themselves.

Likewise an increasing anxiety among fighters themselves about the fatigue toll of the promotional merry-go-round, and the ongoing health risks of competing.

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That’s if these really are the issues driving a seeming ‘Quitgate’

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