Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return highlights a lingering problem for the promotion. | 📷: Getty/UFC
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This weekend marks the return of Conor McGregor to mixed martial arts from a five-year absence. While UFC 329 has proven to produce more buzz than the usual numbered event, it has been muted some as McGregor’s star has faded from its peak.
That isn’t a surprise, but the amount it has dimmed appears to be a bit more than the Ultimate Fighting Championship anticipated. There are some outside confluences that could be playing a part — the focus of the USA’s 250th birthday this past weekend and the surprise success of the USA’s soccer team in the World Cup — but given McGregor used to be a force unto himself. That no longer appears to be the case.
That isn’t to say McGregor doesn’t pull a lot of weight in this late stage of his career. His run up to claiming the champ-champ label was unprecedented. It wasn’t just what he did in the cage. It was that he predicted it beforehand. He carried himself with a swagger that hadn’t ever been displayed and has only been poorly imitated since. Even if his personality was a turn-off for MMA fans, there was no denying that his cheeky comments were the peak of amusement. Phrases such as “red panty night” entered the lexicon. For some of us, we didn’t fully recognize just how special the entirety of his run was until it was long gone.
Why Conor McGregor still overshadows Max Holloway and the UFC’s current roster
Since claiming the second title, McGregor has done more to embarrass himself than ingratiate himself to the MMA world. He’s fortunate the fumes of his magical run have managed to carry over for the last decade. In four contests, he’s managed to win just one of those fights and dominated the headlines more with his legal battles than his accomplishments in the sport. Throw in the debates of whether he has abused steroids and the controversy of his broken toe that forced him out of his contest with Michael Chandler and it’s hard to find much positive that has befallen McGregor since that time.
Despite all that, it could be argued McGregor is still the biggest star the UFC has. Despite his run being what it was — and I’ve already emphasized how great it was — that shouldn’t be the case a decade after. There have been plenty who’ve accomplished major achievements in that time — including McGregor’s opponent this weekend, Max Holloway — but the UFC has been unable to turn that into the type of capital to make them a star. The major question is whether that has been a deliberate maneuver on their part.
While the UFC benefitted from McGregor’s rise, they also didn’t like their brand being the B-side to McGregor’s popularity. He became too big for the UFC to control, resulting in his excursion into boxing with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Following McGregor’s massive payday from that gig, there proved to be a confluence of UFC fighters expressing an interest in boxing gigs, hoping to receive the greater payouts the sister sport of MMA provides. Having their employees seek out a sport they are inferior at to receive a boost into their bank account isn’t a good look for the UFC. All because one fighter became bigger than the organization.
It’s worth keeping in mind the UFC let Francis Ngannou walk when he expressed interest in partaking in boxing contests despite being the reigning UFC heavyweight champion. I’m not saying Ngannou’s popularity was anywhere near McGregor’s — nor would it exceed it — but Ngannou’s ability to put his opponents to sleep made him an easy to promote fighter. And yet, rather than pay Ngannou what he wanted and/or allow him to participate in boxing matches that would likely raise his profile — and likely make him more valuable to the UFC — it was worth cutting him loose for the UFC brass.
The way they’ve handled Holloway is further indicative of some reluctance to boost him. Holloway is the owner of two of the most inimitable moments in combat sports history, much less the UFC. When Holloway was facing Calvin Kattar, he looked over at the broadcast booth and declared himself the best boxer in the UFC as he managed to slip five punches from Kattar. In that contest, Holloway landed a UFC record 445 significant strikes. The numbers and the footage was there for the UFC to brag on. To make a star out of. And while I understand they didn’t ignore his performance, they are the professional promoters. Holloway did his part and provided the ingredients to make him a star.
Even further, do I really need to mention the epic knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300? In the final seconds of the fifth round, despite being well on his way to a decision victory, Holloway pointed to the mat and encouraged Gaethje to slug it out in the closing seconds, giving Gaethje a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, Holloway delivered one of the most brutal one-punch KOs on a fighter whose chin had been granite up to that point. Yet, despite overshadowing McGregor in accomplishment over the last decade, Holloway’s popularity is firmly behind McGregor.
I understand in reality that it’s ridiculous to compare McGregor’s popularity with anyone; he transcended the sport. But if the UFC is the preeminent MMA promotion in the world, they should be able to get someone with the likeable personality of Holloway in combination with his accomplishments and make them a name that would be recognized outside of MMA circles, right? It would appear I set my expectations too high…
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Why the UFC still hasn’t produced another crossover superstar after Conor McGregor
The UFC knows how to promote itself and that’s about it. They do just enough to be able to proclaim lip service, but they have a hard limit on what they will do for the fighters as individuals. When was the last time they had a promotion for a pay-per-view along the lines of what they did when McGregor and Jose Aldo for UFC 189? The ones where they were walking through Vegas and McGregor takes off his sunglasses? I remember those promotions very well, better than any promotions since that point. Despite having far more revenue now than they did at that time over a decade ago, there hasn’t anything remotely close to what they did to promote that fight in the way they did. Well… perhaps the return of Ronda Rousey in late 2016, but that was a decade ago as well for someone else who had transcended the sport. Given the UFC refuses to allow anyone to become larger than the promotion anymore, it’s no surprise it has been unable to create stars, even when the ingredients are there for it.
