Money or MMA
Conor McGregor is the biggest name in MMA, but I do not think he is not looking at fighting MMA anymore and I can’t say I blame him.
When I say the biggest name in MMA I am talking about the person who you could go up to a random person in the street and ask them to name an MMA fighter the most common name you would hear would be Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor is by no means the best fighter in the sport but he would’ve made more money than the top 10 earners in MMA combined. McGregor made over $100 million in his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather and has not fought since. Now there is word that he is in talks with Manny Pacquiao. If this fight against Pacquiao goes ahead I assume that McGregor would earn over $70 Million if the Mayweather is anything to go by.
As a fan of MMA and boxing I do not want to see McGregor v Pacquiao it is another irrelevant fight that does not matter to the history of boxing or MMA. This fight makes no real difference to either fighter except for their wallet as people will pay to watch this fight. This annoys me as there was Lomachenko v Rigondeaux on in the weekend. This was the first time in boxing history where 2 fighters who won 2 Olympic golds fought each other. If you went up to the random person in the street and asked about this fight chances are that they wouldn’t know either fighter and had no idea the fight was on. Those two fighters are two of the best amateur boxers in history (Lomachenko 296-1 , Rigondeaux 450-12) but no one knows them. Most people would not pay for this fight, but they will pay $50 to watch McGregor v Pacquio.
You can’t blame Conor McGregor for this, he is trying to earn as much as he can as he knows he has a short shelf life. McGregor knows that he can make a lot more money from fighting these big name boxers compared to MMA. For this reason alone I do not think that you will see McGregor fight in MMA again and that makes sense. Would you fight Pacquiao for $50 – $80 million of have a UFC fight and earn $1 – $5million. These numbers are an estimate as what they actually earn is questionable. After the Mayweather fight McGregor was already set for life, earning over $100 million, add another big payment and it would set his grandkids up.
I can’t understand that if you are set for life financially why you would risk your health and keep fighting, especially with all the concussion information. If you did not have worry about the day to day grind it would be hard to have that real desire to put your body on the line for a fight. Obviously it must be more than money that drives a lot of fighters which is great and they are fighting just to fight and that is great. That is until they run out of money and do a comeback fight and get destroyed.
I can’t see Conor McGregor fighting in the UFC again, and why would he. McGregor has become as much as a house hold name as any fighter on the planet right now and he is looking to make a buck. From a very solid source that talked to McGregor a few years ago McGregor said ‘I will not stay undefeated, so I have to make as much noise and money until I lose then get out’. Even though that has slightly changed you see that McGregor is chasing the money and has been very good at it. If he fights Pacquio I think that will be the last we will see him fight, he has a young kid and will be set for life – what would you do?
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor