The
Opportunities For McGregor are Endless After UFC 257 Loss
When
discussing the “it factor” in the most successful athletes in the world, one of
the biggest questions to answer is what is the “it” in question. For Conor
McGregor, there are several things that could be in contention for giving him
the “it factor,” such as his abilities on the mic in pre and post-fight press
conferences or the pride he takes in his home country of Ireland and the pride
that the fighting Irish have in him, but for me it’s his unpredictability which
to his credit has allowed him to participate in some of the biggest fights in
combat sports history. I mean look at his recent history. Take away the Cowboy
Cerrone fight, his fight before that was the arguably the biggest fight in
combat sports when he put on the 8 oz. gloves and boxed Floyd Mayweather for 30
minutes before running out of stream. Before that? Conor fought Khabib in the
highest selling pay-per-view in UFC history. All of that being said, and
generally understood by even those who don’t follow the fight game, I think it
strikes up the most entertaining question you could ask any UFC fan, “What
should the UFC do with Conor McGregor after his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC
257?”
Before
we can even talk about what the UFC should do with Conor McGregor, I think it’s
important to discuss what the UFC should not do with Conor McGregor. First, I
think it would be straight up foolish to let him walk away right now and do
another boxing exhibition like he did with Mayweather. Thankfully, this theory
seems to look like less of a possibility as time goes on because the name that
mostly gets attached to Conor returning to the boxing ring is Manny Paquiao who
seemingly is in talks to fight Ryan Garcia currently. Outside of the boxing
route, the other big mistake the UFC could make with Conor is the same mistake
they made in 2020 by allowing him to go inactive despite expressing a
willingness to fight. Specifically, in 2020 Conor said that he wanted to fight
at least three times and all that Dana and the UFC managed to give him was one
fight against Donald Cerrone that only lasted 40 seconds. While this inactivity
may have been unjust to the fans, it was also completely unfair to McGregor,
and although I refuse to make excuses for him, the lack of real fight time in
the octagon may or may not have affected his rusty performance against Poirier.
Now
that we’ve discussed what the UFC should not be doing with Conor, it’s important
to look at his options through the lens of time. Conor just fought, and
although that doesn’t usually mean much, Dustin really damaged his leg in their
fight and the growing fear within the community is that he might have fractured
a bone in the leg. If true, we could be McGregorless for 6 months, however with
negative x-rays we could see the medical suspension reduced to only 45 days.
So,
contingent upon the fact that Conor’s leg is fine and that he will be capable
of fighting multiple times in 2021, we can finally discuss who that should be
against. If you ask Conor and his team what their ideal path is at the moment,
it appears that they want the trilogy rematch fight against Poirier potentially
in May or June, hopefully from a position that Dustin is the champion of the
division at that point and that there will be gold on the line. Honestly, if
you want my real opinion, solid plan. Get yourself right physically and
mentally, correct the mistakes from the last fight, and redeem yourself.
However, from the UFC’s perspective, the result at UFC 257 was pretty emphatic
in favor of Poirier, so as opposed to Figueredo and Moreno, who Dana White said
would be running that fight back as soon as possible, I think McGregor’s
situation is a little bit different and he is going to need a fight in between
to reassert himself as a top contender for that belt.
Assuming
that this logic applies to the situation, who can Conor compete with that
accomplishes this goal for him? From a business perspective, perhaps the
biggest fight that the UFC can put on is another McGregor trilogy. Although his
trigger fingers may have turned to Twitter fingers in the recent past, Nate
Diaz announced that he wanted to make a return to the UFC in 2021 and to no
surprise he wants to do it at 155 because it appears Conor’s days of moving up
to 170 are over and it seems Diaz is hungry to avenge his most recent loss to
McGregor. This fight definitely passes the eye test because from just a glance
all the elements of a good story are there. Specifically, these two dudes flat
out do not like each other, and what better way to get Conor back on his feet
than to allow him to compete against a formidable foe in Diaz, in a grudge
match nonetheless. Moreover, I think this fight should be enticing to McGregor
because it would be contested at a much more natural weight for him. Recently
Conor’s conditioning has been criticized with one of the pinnacle pieces of
evidence being his first fight against Diaz which saw him run out of gas and
get finished. However, prior to this fight Conor was in the 145 division and
the 155 division so at the least he had to pack on 15 pounds for the fight
which can undoubtedly make a fighter seem sluggish and more out of shape than
usual because they’re toting around that extra weight. So, in allowing these
two to compete and finish this trilogy at 155 I think Conor has an advantage
because he should be quicker and more fluid than he was in either of their
previous two fights, and I can only imagine he would be salivating at the
opportunity to finally shut Diaz’s mouth.
Say
Nate isn’t the answer, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bronze medal match from UFC 257
pitting the main event losers against each other in McGregor and Dan Hooker.
Contrary to the Diaz fight that seems like a supernatural alignment of the
stars, there is an unpredictable element to this fight in that after his loss
to Michael Chandler Dan Hooker exited the cage and turned around to throw his
gloves back into the cage, seemingly giving the universal signal for retirement
in this sport. So, assuming Hooker isn’t retiring and will fight again in the
UFC this fight makes a lot of sense because it would be a battle to retain
relevance. First, both men are coming off of a loss, and Hooker is coming off
of back-to-back losses, yet despite an off performance against Michael
Chandler, Hooker has been one of the most consistent fighters in the UFC and
actually fought Poirier better than Conor did in my opinion. Stylistically, I
think the two matchup well as strikers, with Hooker reigning from City
Kickboxing and training with other stars of the sport such as Israel Adesanya,
and I think the way that Hooker fights puts McGregor in a position to
immediately have to correct his mistakes from his last fight or see his leg brutalized
again leaving him unable to move how he likes and probably having to cope with
a similar outcome. Additionally, I think making this fight would give us as
fans a chance to see how badly Conor wants to compete because The Hangman is a
tough night out for anybody and without the fear of takedowns haunting him like
they did in the Chandler fight I see this fight making its way into the
championship rounds and both fighters picking up significant injuries, so if
Conor truly does want to be in the organization, fighting at the highest level
in the sport, going through Hooker would be a great way to test his character
as a fighter at this stage in his career.
Still,
if not Hooker or Diaz then who? One of the options that could be in store for
him may be a legitimate contender who moves up from 145. First, Alexander
Volkanovski has expressed an interest in sharing the octagon with McGregor,
however the waters on this one are muddied by the fact that Volko already has a
fight lined up with Brian Ortega to defend his title in February, so unless we
see this fight towards the end of the year this is one I’d keep in the back of
our minds for early 2022. On the other hand, the Ortega V. Volkanovski fight
may set up something more interesting in analyzing what the UFC will do with
Max Holloway. Max just fought and put on a record setting performance against
Calvin Kattar on ABC, self-proclaiming himself the best boxer in the
organization. In spite of this, Volkanovski has refuted any claims that he’ll
fight Max again because although their second fight was largely controversial
Volkanovski has beaten him twice. So, what does that leave for Max at 145? The
answer as it seems at the moment is not a title fight, and even if it is, Max
being the competitor that he is I don’t think will want to sit around and wait,
leaving his fate up to Volkanovski and Dana White. Moreover, Holloway has
expressed an interest in moving up to 155 eventually and what better time to do
it than when opportunities are limited at his current weight class. To make
things even more entertaining, these two already fought once back in 2013 at
145, and if the Poirier fight taught us anything it’s that the time in between
fights has given each the opportunity to evolve and improve their game. So,
personally, if I had to call for one of these fights at the moment I think it
would be this one because it would be an all out slugfest to determine who
belongs in the highest echelon of boxers in the promotion.
Finally,
if all else fails, if none of these fights I’ve already proposed finds its way
to fruition there is one man that will bet on himself against anybody in the
world and fight his heart out, and that man is Tony Ferguson. Given the shared
of dislike for Khabib between the two, this seems like a fight that has to be
made, but there are several other elements that should spark an interest in
this bout. Particularly, both men are at a crossroads moment in their careers
where both the fans and the UFC are largely curious to see A. How badly these
guys want it and B. How capable they both are of still fighting at this level.
Moreover, from a fan’s perspective I think it is undeniable that these two
would set off fireworks in press conferences and face-offs and attract a lot of
attention to a pay-per-view card. Stylistically, they match up well, and it
almost seems like a disservice that at this stage in both of their respective
careers that we haven’t seen this fight yet. So, Dana, the ball is in your
court.
All
in all, as a whole I think 2021 will be the year we all expected 2020 to be for
McGregor, and as long as the UFC doesn’t allow him to escape away into the
world of exhibition boxing or sit on ice for no justifiable reason, I think we
could see Conor back in a position to compete for the belt in late 2021 or
early 2022, regardless of the Poirier loss.