At the UFC’s “Go Big” press conference this past Friday, Conor McGregor — the current interim Featherweight Champion — dug into recent opponent Chad Mendes, putting him on notice that, were it not for him, he wouldn’t have scored one of his biggest paydays.
“You went from $48,000 to half a million,” he said in reference to Mendes’ significant increase in fight purse following his loss to McGregor at UFC 189.
“Blah, blah, blah, blah blah,” Mendes retorted. “Okay… you done f*cking talking now?”
There’s a simple answer to that: Nope.
Few fighters in the UFC have been able to do what “The Notorious” Conor McGregor has done in such a short time, and much of that is owed to the Irishman’s ability to verbally spew the kind of intelligent toxins other fighters would have trouble with if it were written down for them. At the “Go Big” presser, Conor didn’t serve his brand of vehemence solely to his next opponent, Jose Aldo, instead saving spurts of venom for fighters outside his weight class like lightweights Donald Cerrone, and Rafael dos Anjos, two men who will be squaring off next for that division’s title. In fact, McGregor put the entirety of the fighter’s panel of the event on notice.
“I’m the money fight in the male sh*t at all weight divisions, so f*ck everybody else up here,” he said to the applause of the crowd.
The crowd’s reaction to McGregor’s incendiary comments are telling: The people like it. The numbers for McGregor’s fight cards have also been telling, with his fight against Chad Mendes at UFC 189 pulling in a $7.2 million gate, making it the top gate for an MMA event in Nevada state history.
There’s no question about it; McGregor is a phenomenon in the UFC, and both are richer for it. Take a look at McGregor’s fight purses since he started at the UFC. At his 2013 debut against Marcus Brimage, he was given just $8,000 to show up. His show purse for his recent battle at UFC 189? Half-a-million dollars. The UFC, Dana White, and the Fertitta Brothers have fed, bred, and raised a monster in Conor McGregor, even going so far as to possibly enhance the number of PPV buys for UFC 189 to more than the coveted one million buy mark (i.e. that number is somewhat disputed, but because UFC is a private company, only they know the exact figure).
It would serve the UFC well to enhance anything that Conor McGregor does, as the receipts for such efforts validate the strategy. Monsters need to be served heaping plates of nourishment, and McGregor is getting it from two masters… himself and the company he fights for. Other fighters have gone on record to denounce the supposed lack of respect that McGregor displays for his fellow combatants, but those same fighters will also tell you that McGregor is good for business. Like Chael Sonnen before him, McGregor is one of the best talkers the MMA world has ever seen. In fact, he’s so damn good on the microphone, it’s hard to see anyone coming after him who can beat him in a game of verbal jousting.
And, it’s not like McGregor doesn’t respect any of the other fighters in the UFC. During UFC 191, “The Notorious” showed delight at the skills of flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.
I LOVE the Mighty one. His entries into the legs, his fence work, his hit and rolls into opposite stance. All beautiful…
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 6, 2015
See? McGregor isn’t such a bad guy. What the interim Featherweight Champion is doing is playing a game, a game that makes him one of the most intriguing figures in all of sports right now. Monsters, typically, aren’t characterized by the presence of a higher intellect. Besides smoking all six of his opponents in the UFC cage thus far, the “Go Big” presser proved that McGregor’s mind and mouth are running at a higher RPM than his peers; most of the other fighters were left speechless or stuttering.
At UFC 194 on Dec. 12, McGregor will face his biggest test ever in the form of a man who many say is the pound-for-pound king, Jose Aldo. Aldo is more skilled than any other fighter who McGregor has faced before, and it’s possible that the hype train that the UFC and Conor himself have propelled will finally hit a speed bump. Although, if one were to look at the aforementioned Sonnen, and one of UFC’s biggest draws ever, Brock Lesnar, they’d see that the money and the mouths don’t necessarily derail following a loss.
History indicates — fictional or otherwise — that monsters have one of two fates: They either go the way of a horrible demise, or they live in infamy, prowling the woods, and detracting would-be intruders from touching the tree line. After McGregor’s UFC 194 bout against Jose Aldo this December, one of those paths will possibly become more clear. Either way, just don’t expect the pitchforks and torches to be heading McGregor’s way anytime soon.
