If you at all follow UFC goings-on (or even just follow someone on Twitter who accidentally watched a UFC card at a bar once), you’ve probably heard about the Biblical drama storm currently following Conor McGregor. This week McGregor “retired” from MMA over the UFC’s refusal to give him a slightly lighter promotional schedule. It’s been a confusing mess of whispers and speculation, so here’s some clarity: the UFC is absolutely being idiotic right now.
Here’s where things are at: after McGregor sauntered onto Twitter, picked up a microphone as if to say something, and then dropped it and walked away, UFC president Dana White claimed the whole spat arose because McGregor refused to fly to the US to do a press week for his fight at UFC 200 in July. McGregor was silent for a while, leading to rampant speculation about whether he actually retired, or if this was some kind of ploy to squeeze more money out of the UFC, or even if he’d been rattled by recently witnessing an MMA fight in which one of the combatants later died.
Yesterday, however, McGregor broke the silence, explaining that he requested a lighter press schedule ahead of UFC 200 because he’s pretty much been doing nonstop press for the UFC since the start of last year. He’s also jumped in and pulled the UFC’s arse from the fire multiple times, taking on last-second fights against top fighters like Chad Mendes and Nate Diaz. The latter fight, which saw McGregor jump up two weight classes to fight a guy heavier and taller than him, ended with McGregor’s first UFC loss.
“I am paid to fight,” McGregor wrote on Facebook, saying that he asked for a “slight adjustment” to his promotional duties for UFC 200. “I am not yet paid to promote. I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting. There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.”
He even said he’d fly out to New York for the day of his biggest media obligation of the upcoming press week (which would kick off in Vegas this weekend) and then return to training in Iceland after that. “It is time to be selfish with my training again, “McGregor added. “It is the only way. I feel the $US400 ($517) million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.”
That whole faux-retirement thing? McGregor said it was his way of showing the UFC that he didn’t need to attend a few press conferences and do some interviews to justify the $US10 ($13) million they put into marketing this event. In a single tweet, he grabbed the entire sporting world by the eye stalks.
So far, it seems that the UFC disagrees. Shortly before McGregor released his statement, Dana White continuously said things like, “You can’t not show up to promote your fight. You can’t do it.” He also referenced the time Nick Diaz (Nate’s older brother) no-showed a press conference and had a title shot against then-welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre yanked away from him. Now outlets like TMZ are reporting that the UFC has flatly refused McGregor’s offer. Unless somebody does something drastic, McGregor will not be fighting at UFC 200.
What the UFC is doing here is so categorically stupid that my brain feels like it’s been repeatedly concussed by Alistair Overeem during his steroid-fuelled days of being part-man, part-horse torso. Let’s break this down:
At the heart of this whole fiasco is Conor McGregor’s unprecedented popularity, born of his notorious flare for self-promotion. Unlike many other fighters, he’s become a singular entity, responsible for some of the UFC’s highest earning pay-per-views to date. After a tough time during which the UFC lost stars like Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre, McGregor (along with Ronda Rousey) helped put the UFC back on the map, gave it a larger chunk of cultural landmass than ever before. McGregor generates mindshare and conversation. People who don’t give a shit about the UFC do give a shit about Conor McGregor. My dad sometimes texts me about Conor McGregor. I’ve been following MMA for more than a decade. That’s a first.
The UFC, however, continues to be an operation that is first and foremost focused on The Brand. If a fighter dishonors or tarnishes The Brand — if they fail to dance the company dance in the company mandated Reebok ballgown — they’re on The Shitlist (also a Reebok product) in a heartbeat. The UFC has an abysmal track record when it comes to putting fighters first. See also: the fact that fighters are all contractors (not employees with benefits and bargaining power), the aforementioned Reebok deal, which drastically reduced the amount of money fighters could make while lining the UFC’s pockets and giving them a nice little prestige boost to match, letting go of beloved figures for bad-mouthing the Reebok deal, etc.
This has led to some moves in the past almost as baffling as the current McGregor situation. Remember when Dana White publicly threw Jon Jones under the bus for UFC 151’s cancellation, even though it was the UFC’s decision and Jones had every right to turn down a last-second opponent switcheroo? At the time, Jones was the UFC’s star on the rise, their next great hope. But he put himself before The Brand, and that simply would not do. So the UFC put its foot down on Jones’ head and shot through its own foot to hit him. It was petty. It was short-sighted. In the long run, it didn’t help anybody, least of all the UFC.
What makes the McGregor situation unique is that the UFC actually helped McGregor prove a point they have been kicking and screaming to deny: McGregor is bigger than the UFC. See, the UFC wants to build superstars, but only to a point. If they don’t need the UFC anymore — if they won’t kowtow to the UFC’s demands — that’s a nightmare scenario. If a fighter gains that kind of leverage, why, that might slightly detract from money the UFC could make! The horror!
Meanwhile, for some time McGregor’s expressed interest in running his own fight promotion and co-promoting in partnership with the UFC. The first time McGregor said this, I imagine an alarm that sounded like a thousand banshees wailing in unison went off at UFC HQ, and a flock of ravens thick and black as coagulated blood devoured Dana White, forcing the UFC to release his sixth clone.
So, for the most part, the UFC just sort of gives McGregor whatever he wants at this point. Wanna win a belt and then jump up a division to fight for a different belt? We’ve expressly forbade other champs from doing it, but sure! Go ahead! Wanna continue to put the featherweight division on hold so you can avenge a loss to a guy at welterweight, a division you have no business beating your head against? Haha yeah do that I guess! Also here are some the biggest paydays in UFC history. Please don’t go.
It’s telling that this is how the UFC attempts to reassert dominance. They didn’t do anything of actual consequence. Oh no, that would be too risky. This is posturing, mean mugging for the camera, plain and simple. They could’ve (and at this point probably should) taken away McGregor’s featherweight championship. They could’ve suspended him. They could’ve fired him.
But in their heart of hearts, they know they need McGregor more than he needs them. The tweet heard ’round the world just drove that point home. This weekend, the UFC is putting on one of its biggest shows of the year. Disgraced ex-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is making his big return on a card that’s stacked with quality matches, including the most intriguing flyweight title fight in eons. Jones is, in all likelihood, the UFC’s third most popular fighter after McGregor and Rousey. But hardly anybody’s talking about that, especially in the mainstream sports world. It’s kinda hilarious, actually: A lot of outlets have posted videos and interviews in which they mostly asked people like Jon Jones and flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson about… McGregor. We’re on the verge of a marquee UFC event, but one tweet from McGregor is eclipsing it.
But OK, at the end of the day, the UFC is being self-interested. It’s a massive company, and massive companies are, by nature, self-interested. So, you might argue, they’re not being stupid at all. But even in the short term, ripping McGregor away from his throne atop UFC 200 is a moronic move. He just served them up a fantastic marketing angle on a silver platter, and they slapped it out of his hands, shoved his nose in it, and said, “NOW CLEAN IT UP.” For almost all of McGregor’s UFC tenure, we’ve known him as the guy with fancy suits, ridiculous bow ties, and ridiculous-er watches. Once upon a time, though, he was a poor Irish kid busting his arse and barely making ends meet. Now he’s going back to the basics to rediscover that part of himself, to train like a madman and shut out all other distractions.
So we have McGregor, this guy who’s been dominating airwaves, radiowaves, Internet waves, sine waves, and hell, probably even ocean waves (the UFC’s expansion into dolphin markets is doing better than expected), and suddenly, for a little while, he’s gonna disappear. Just as people were starting to get sick of hearing him talk and talk and talk, he… stops talking. To train for the biggest fight of his life. THAT IS ONE HELL OF AN ANGLE. COME ON UFC, HOW ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS? You’ve got a built-in storyline, plus a rare quality you don’t find in modern marketing hype cycles: mystique. What will McGregor be like when he returns from his self-imposed exile? What will he say? How will he fight? As a fight fan, I would be out-of-my-mind excited by all of this! Thrilled! Curious! Unable to look away! It’s a perfect fucking storm.
But instead of promoting that, fight promotion company/lapse of judgement factory the UFC plans to pull the plug on McGregor’s UFC 200 fight entirely. It’s unbelievable. You’d think the UFC would have learned a lesson by now, but I guess their strategy of frequently stomping on fighters hasn’t led to a landmine yet. Maybe this will be it. Here’s hoping. It’s about damn time Dana White and co learn some kind of lesson.
Comments
16 responses to “The UFC Is Totally Blowing It With Conor McGregor”
I think they have really stuffed it up and it is a well written article
I’m on the UFC’s side with this one. Why should Conor get special treatment over any other fighter that signed a contract requiring attending promos? No one else complains, they plan ahead and get it done.
All i’m hearing is a lot of childish tantrum throwing, attention seeking and excuses. Sure, Conor is the biggest star in the UFC right now but the UFC doesnt NEED him, he NEEDS the UFC. He wont make that money anywhere else.
Say he fights and loses to Diaz again, then goes down to defend his belt and loses against Aldo or Edgar. He would quickly become just another above average fighter with a big mouth and we will move onto the next big thing. His ego will be his downfall, and it’s already begun.
Dana needs to stick to his guns and prove no one is bigger than the company. Fingers crossed DC and Jones are cleared so they can headline UFC 200 while Conor can sit at home talking about how he was ‘inefficient’ with his methods again.
All of your rhetorical question were answered in the article. Read it, address it. Don’t ignore it so your flimsy argument gets over without challenge.
he is right though.
Settle down mate. Did my opinion rustle your jimmies?
All of my rhetorical questions (I count 1 in total) were not answered, imo. Unless you count “he’s bigger than the UFC” or a money related answer. It’s a contract that he signed, that’s all there is to it.
Not sure what part of my comment you think is a “flimsy argument” or why I wouldnt expect people to challenge my OPINION when I posted it to a public board…
But hey, you got a nice snarky comment out of it. Well done.
The problem I see is when they start getting too focused on the media side, the promoting and marketing and forget the training. I can’t help but compare UFC to WWE at that point. Less theatrics and marketing, more actual fighting. Maybe McGregor realised this when he got beaten a few weeks (months?) back.
On a side note (related to theatrics) how long before McGregor is snapped up by Hollywood? Expendables 4 in Ireland anyone?
The article just explained pretty much everything you just asked. They both need each other.
I dont think the UFC needs Conor as much as they want him. They want that big money asap and Conor is the key to that, but it’s not like they wouldnt survive without him.
Love Mcregor – Also love the UFC
I don’t think this will hurt either of them. If it delays his return, it will only be a bigger deal in the future.
Mcgregor was also offered a private jet to fly his entire training camp and equipment with him to attend this media event. All at UFC expense. Which wasn’t mentioned in this article.
He’s being a prima donna. He has contractual obligations to attend these events and has chosen not to honour his contract.
He’s big, but he’s not bigger than the UFC. We’ve seen plenty of stars rise and fall over the years and we’ll see plenty more.
Personaly I think the UFC as a whole is more important than Conor Mcg and they have to take a hard line stance with this sort of behaviour otherwise they open the floodgates by condoning it.
He’ll be back. Probably for 200.
Nah, UFC have got it right. As soon as you start to give in to fighters demands like these specific ones you get annoying sports stars like, Floyd Mayweather. I like his fights and I always pay to watch them but as a person you should just do your job and like any job you get forced/told to do things that don’t always align with your best intention(training in this case) but who cares, go do the promo stuff.
Spot on. Funny how he had no problem with the PR aspect when he was grand-standing after beating Aldo; refusing to sit with the other fighters and hyping his make-believe Conor McGregor Promotions.
If you want to fuck around like Mayweather, then maybe piss off to the next MMA group that’s as lax and corrupt as boxing… until it ends up folding. All the cans you can eat.
I agree with this. However, on the flip side.
If they look like they caving to the demands of Connor, it only increases his stardom.
Hey guys, apparently the fight is back on.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/4/25/11500480/conor-mcgregor-says-hes-back-on-ufc-200-vs-nate-diaz
Conor tweeted about 8 hours ago that he’s back on the 200 card. he even thanked Dana and Lorenzo.
No official confirmation but that could be the issue mostly put to bed.
https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/724474735912968192
Fighting fire with fire is one of the best ways to promote…
good article, have to side with conner here.