Will Conor McGregor ever fight again? That’s the question UFC president Dana White raised during a recent media event. According to White, it’s hard for a fighter to get back in the gym when they’ve got $100 million at home like Conor does. That point has been underscored over the past several weeks as McGregor has spent time in the public eye doing everything but training, from shoving refs to fighting in pubs to partying hard.
But according to McGregor himself, he still plans to fight … it just has to be for the right price.
“My focus is getting back into the right ring or octagon,” McGregor said in a video for sponsor BetSafe. “2017 was historic. I have transcended both the sport of MMA and boxing. At this stage of my career, as it has been for the majority of my UFC career, potential opponents must lobby for fights with me.”
“We could see Conor McGregor anywhere. I run the fight game, the fashion game, the whiskey game, or whatever the next business endeavor might be. I have every intention of fighting in 2018 if my compensation and business development endeavors accurately reflect my influence on combat sports.”
There’s a couple of important and worrying words in there, from the ‘if’ following “I have every intention of fighting in 2018” to “getting back into the right ring or octagon.” McGregor sounds like he wants to make history with every fight deal, extracting the maximum amount of value that he can. Good for him, but that probably means we won’t be seeing him compete three times a year any more. It also makes it less likely that he returns to the UFC, where the paydays are not even half of what they’d be in boxing (even with the UFC taking a big cut).
Simply put, the days of McGregor the fighter cutting through the top competition in MMA may be over. The days of McGregor the businessman doing whatever’s best for his bottom line may have begun. That’s a bit of a bummer. His shtick has been entertaining up to this point, but will it continue to be without the regular performances inside the cage where he fights at his best? I’m leaning towards no.
