McGregor’s career scores a TKO
COMMENT: Plenty of options and big-money bouts await the crossover UFC superstar
Options and leverage — after Saturday night, Conor McGregor has plenty of both.
Following months of buildup and hype, “The Money Fight” between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is finally in the rear-view mirror, the seasoned professional boxer collecting his 50th victory with a 10th-round stoppage over the audacious neophyte in a bout that was both surprising and anticlimactic at the same time.
It was like a cinematic thriller where you go thinking you know how it’s going to end, get thrown a couple curveballs early that make you question your initial assumptions and then the obvious beats start hitting and it turns out you were right all along.
McGregor surprised out of the gate, catching Mayweather with a couple good shots and taking three of the first four rounds as the 40-year-old veteran let the newcomer tire himself out. By the midway point, McGregor was keeping it close on the cards, but clearly on his way to a loss and a couple rounds later, as exhaustion took hold, referee Robert Byrd stepped in to bring the highly anticipated clash to a halt.
While most expected this to be a complete farce, Saturday’s “special attraction,” as it was called during the fighter introductions, cleared that admittedly low bar with ease and ended up being a pretty entertaining scrap between two men who delivered on their promise to put on a good show for the fans.
After coming out of retirement for this fight, Mayweather gets to walk away with one more win than Rocky Marciano and end his illustrious career with a stoppage victory in a fun fight rather than his decision win over Manny Pacquiao sitting as the final entry on his resume.
As for McGregor, he’s positioned himself as the biggest name and the biggest draw in combat sports and how he opts to wield that power going forward is going to be quite interesting.
In the ring following the official decision, McGregor answered in the affirmative when Jim Gray asked if he would return to the UFC, but it felt more like a quick answer to get the question out of the way than a definitive, declarative statement.
He was in the moment, reflecting on what had just transpired and assessing his performance, not thinking about what comes next. Those decisions aren’t likely to be made until the final financial numbers come in and the 29-year-old Dubliner can take a wide-angle look at all of his options.
That’s not to say a return to the Octagon is out of the question.
McGregor said multiple times during the week and again following the fight that a trilogy bout with Nathan Diaz interests him and is sitting there waiting to be made. It was the biggest fight the UFC could possibly put together before the weekend and is even bigger now, but that could be more of a potential complication than a fact that helps bring all the parties together in agreement quickly.
Each of their first two encounters topped a million pay-per-view buys with the sequel at UFC 202 establishing a new high-water mark for the company with 1.65 million buys. Given the history between the two and McGregor’s emergence as a mainstream figure through this fight with Mayweather, the rubber match could potentially crack two million buys and both men are going to want to be compensated handsomely for a fight that does that kind of business.
After netting a guaranteed $30 million on Saturday night and possibly clearing nine figures once the finally tallies are done, what will McGregor demand in order to run it back with Diaz one more time? As much as he’s ultracompetitive and surely wants to win his feud with the Stockton, Calif., native, rest assured that McGregor won’t be interested in taking a pay cut in order to do it.
And Diaz won’t be satisfied making a fraction of what his rival is making either; he’s remained inactive since their last meeting, taking a “McGregor or bust” stance and demanding big money (by MMA standards) to resume his fighting career.
At the same time, making it into the 10th round with the best boxer of his generation and having some early success — regardless of how you choose to interpret it — gives McGregor options in the ring as well.
A grudge match with Paulie Malignaggi certainly looks more interesting now that McGregor acquitted himself well in the early going against Mayweather and “The Magic Man” has continued to take shots at the Irishman.
Or what if the winner of the Sept. 16 middleweight championship fight between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez decides to call out McGregor in an attempt to use his mainstream drawing power to catapult himself to a new level of stardom?
While neither fight would generate the kind of massive payday Saturday’s bout against Mayweather produced, both would be lucrative opportunities to weigh against a potential return to the Octagon.
Outside of shocking the world and actually making good on his prediction to finish Mayweather inside of two rounds, Saturday’s outcome might have been the best-case scenario for McGregor.
He didn’t get embarrassed and cemented his standing as the biggest remaining draw in combat sports, raising his asking price for a return to the UFC while making a sophomore appearance in the ring a lucrative, attractive possibility as well.
Where he goes from here is uncertain, but one thing we do know for sure is that McGregor has options and leverage and that should make the road to his next appearance a compelling journey to follow.
E. Spencer Kyte covers MMA for The Sun and The Province. Follow him on social media: @spencerkyte.