It was a worst case scenario for the UFC last night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. What was supposed to be the final thrilling chapter in the Poirier vs. McGregor trilogy ended with a freak leg break, resulting in Herb Dean calling off the fight after the first round. While the organization will undoubtedly spin this into a positive, for fans and the fighters themselves, last night was woefully unsatisfying for a multitude of reasons.
The winner in everything that shook down was obviously Dustin Poirier. Not only did he earn the victory, and cash the massive cheque that accompanies any fight against McGregor, he also managed to not look like a complete ass in the ring in the post fight interview. Something that his opponent struggled to duplicate in the aftermath of the fight.
Poirier is now expected to face off against Charles Oliveira for UFC lightweight gold later this year or in early 2022. Yet as satisfying as going up 2-1 in his career against the talented Irishman must feel, even Poirier would have to admit he would have much rather finished the fight on his own rather than have a seed of doubt surrounding the outcome with a bizarre injury.
Poirier owes McGregor nothing at this point. He’s proven in the last fight, and in the 5 minutes we saw Saturday night that at this stage of their careers, he’s the superior fighter. McGregor on the other hand, appears to be trying to employ a Steve Jobs-esque reality distortion field to try to convince viewers he was in control of the fight Saturday. Something that anyone with a set of functioning eyeballs could see was blatantly untrue.
For all but the most hardcore of McGregor fans, most were hoping for one of two outcomes Saturday: 1) McGregor wins and takes one final shot at the title, or 2) Conor is soundly beaten and retires from MMA to enjoy the finer things in life his new found wealth has afforded him.
To be clear, Conor McGregor at his peak was one of the most dangerous human beings on the planet. No one has done more for the UFC, or MMA in terms of sales or garnering views than McGregor in the history of the sport and it’s not particularly close. That being said though, he was visibly slower in his last bout against Poirier. People openly wondered whether he still had the fire that fueled him when he was living off food stamps now that he was a certified multi-millionaire.
To his credit, he certainly put on a show in the weeks leading up to the 3rd chapter by saying, screaming, and acting the part of the loose cannon that enamored fans when he first burst onto the scene. Yet as the press conferences wore on, his antics began to wear thin. The “psychological warfare” he attempted to wage against Dustin went largely unnoticed by his opponent. All of it culminated in the bizarre post fight interview between Joe Rogan and a slumped over McGregor inside the octagon where the Notorious one once more attempted to steer the narrative that a 4th fight was upcoming, and that last night proved nothing.
While Conor’s camp may believe that there’s still something to prove against Poirier, they would be in the minority in that belief. MMA fans are all too used to watching as their favourite fighters try to cling on for too long, and suffer repeated injuries, humiliating defeats, or worse. It’s part and parcel with the territory. But what separates McGregor from some of the fighters of the past is that he doesn’t need the UFC anymore. He could sit on a beach from now until the day he dies and never need to worry about a paycheck again.
The problem is that he is in rarified air in the fight game. For every McGregor, Alvarez, Paquiao, or Mayweather, there’s 100 other fighters who are struggling to make ends meet. Which is why there will always be “another fight” he can take. McGregor remains the biggest draw in MMA. And when you’re talking about the number of PPV buys that his name alone generates, there’s always going to be some matchmaker who will try to leverage Conor’s fame to sell a product.
Had McGregor been knocked out, submitted, or otherwise soundly beaten inside the ring last night perhaps the notion that he should ride off into the sunset would be taken seriously inside the Irishman’s camp. Instead, you can almost guarantee that we’ll be seeing him back inside a ring of some sort in the not so distant future. Whether it’s MMA, or boxing remains to be seen.
Because as long as McGregor’s name has cache, and as long as there are idiots like Jake Paul out there hoping to goad him into a fight for another major pay day, there will always be temptations for him to return to the ring. The multi-million dollar question at this point becomes, what does Conor, the UFC, and the lightweight division do from here?
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner