McGregor McRetires? No. But let's talk about him anyway.

[Keith Houchen]

I think you're right, lamby, I'm not his best mate or anything but I imagine McGregor was so driven that he signed for the rematch as soon as possible but then it hit him how much time he'd have to donate for media appearances and though it might affect his training, training for a fight that he probably seems as his most important and he wants to focus on it 100%

[jimufctna24]

Now this is just a guess, but I highly doubt the contract details exactly what promotion is required of McGregor either.

I imagine it's open-ended.

 

The fight business changes from day to day. Some fights generate more interest than expected, fighters pull out and further press conferences are called to hype the replacement fight, etc etc.  For example, the Silva vs Sonnen 1 generated a lot more interest than expected, which I presume lead to more media promotion than first anticipated. 

[lambyUK]

I think you're right, lamby, I'm not his best mate or anything but I imagine McGregor was so driven that he signed for the rematch as soon as possible but then it hit him how much time he'd have to donate for media appearances and though it might affect his training, training for a fight that he probably seems as his most important and he wants to focus on it 100%

Yep. I was thinking that too. Off the top off my head I don't know, but wasn't it a matter of weeks that the contract was signed for the rematch?

 

As you say, his drive is ridiculous on a normal day to day, but for this you would have the added emotion of defeat to add.

 

I know most fighters experience defeat, but with him along with everything that preceded the first fight, would more than likely increase that drive 10 fold.

Edited April 23, 2016 by lambyUK

[wandshogun09]

Lamby and Houchen - Totally get where you're coming from but at the same time, McGregor knows the score. He knows by now the kind of interest and MMA media frenzy his fights whip up. And especially his first fight after his first UFC loss, in a rematch against the guy who beat him AND it's at UFC 200! Obviously I'm not in his brain so I can't know for certain but I can't really see how McGregor didn't know what the build-up could be like for this fight. He had to know it'd be something crazy. Just on the fact it's UFC 200 alone, then adding in the whole Diaz rematch thing and everything that brings with it. It's not something that you'd sign a contract then it creeps up and dawns on you that you'll have to do loads of media work. It's a given.

 

I'd understand if this was McGregor's first real main event and the media demands were new to him. But he's been followed around by cameras and journalists pretty much since the second after he knocked Marcus Brimage out in his UFC debut in Sweden three years ago. And the build-up to the Aldo fight just last year was utter madness. There's never been a UFC fight that was promoted so heavily for so long as that bastard was when you combine the originally scheduled fight in July, then the re-booked fight in December. The build-up for Aldo vs McGregor started in January after McGregor beat Siver. It kicked into high gear around April with the World Media Tour then it briefly stopped when Aldo got hurt and Mendes stepped in, then it went full pelt from about Sep/Oct to December when the fight actually finally happened (all 13 seconds of it). Even as big as UFC 200 and the Diaz rematch would be, they'd be hard pressed to have a more lengthy, gruelling and insane build-up than the Aldo fight.

 

McGregor knows better than anyone on the roster what a truly massive fight like this involves promotion-wise. So while I get what you guys are saying, I find it hard to believe he just recklessly signed the bout agreement then only realised weeks later what fighting a rematch of one of the biggest drawing fights in UFC history, at one of the biggest historical shows in UFC history would entail. It wasn't like he was blind-sided. And that's what baffles me most about the whole thing. As taxing as doing the media stuff can be, he's always seemed to understand more than most that it's a part of the game and it has to be done. The last thing I ever expected out of McGregor was that he'd end up not fighting because he didn't want to do so much promotional work. He's the best promoter the sport's ever seen. And he doesn't want to promote. What's happening to the world?

 

You know who must be gutted about all this? Rafael Dos Anjos. He was weeks away from the biggest payday of his life, broke his foot and Nate Diaz fucked it all up for him. Now there's a decent chance he'll never get that McGregor payday now. He's gone from Red Panty Night to fucking around on Fight Pass with Eddie Alvarez.

Edited April 23, 2016 by wandshogun09

[Keith Houchen]

Cheers Wand, I'm not an expert in all of this but what you say makes a lot of sense.  I guess I'm a casual (or upper casual as it were) who just wants to see the fucker fight!  It's discussions like this that makes this the best place for me for MMA discussion.  

[lambyUK]

McGregor just now tweeting he's back on to fight Diaz at 200..defo not fake account!

 

 

Happy to announce that I am BACK on UFC 200!

Shout out to @danawhite and @lorenzofertitta on getting this one done for the fans. #Respect

Edited April 25, 2016 by lambyUK

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

   

 

Oh Conor.

 

I don't believe this for a second, isn't it the middle of the night in America right now? So people from all over the world are going to be tweeting and re-tweeting about this, with the idea that a huge amount of fan support behind this gets it done, forcing the UFC's hand.

 

Well played, well played indeed. No idea if it'll work, and I doubt it will with Cormier still in play for 200, but I'm really looking forward to the UFC's reaction on this one.

[lambyUK]

This is going to get tedious going back and forth between threads.

 

Think we should keep that chat in here regarding McGregor.

 

I was saying that I can't see the upside to McGregor lying here. It would turn a shit load of people against him.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Would make sense to keep the chat here until something is confirmed by the UFC, I agree.

 

It really depends on how much you like McGregor already, I think. I think he's full of shit but I don't think any less of him for it, I think it's a ballsy, clever move, and will make Dana look even worse if there's a huge worldwide positive reaction to the move on the Twitter-verse, only for him to double down and go, "Nope, not happening." It'd be a definitive statement that the UFC don't give a shit what the fans want in this situation, all because they don't want to look like they're giving a fighter what they want.

[David]

It's gone beyond that now though, Shane O. If Conor's Tweeted that without the UFC confirming it then he's basically just acting the cunt, and for them to cave now would be a message to him primarily that they'll cave on anything with enough pressure.

 

That's a door best left unopened, although I do think that another loss to Nate in similar fashion will start the decline of his popularity. There's only so long a guy can go as the main draw if he's losing consistently.

[lambyUK]

Agreed David on your first point.

 

Regarding the second point, that's the fight business at the end of the day. Shit can crumble in a second. Any fight Mcgregor takes is risky.

 

You've got to remember, Mcgregor was always about fight, get rich, and get out quick. If it all falls apart after this next Nate fight, then it's been a hell of a ride.

 

Its obvious this is the fight that he wants. Hats off to guy attempting the challenge.

Edited April 25, 2016 by lambyUK

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

It's gone beyond that now though, Shane O. If Conor's Tweeted that without the UFC confirming it then he's basically just acting the cunt, and for them to cave now would be a message to him primarily that they'll cave on anything with enough pressure.

 

That's a door best left unopened, although I do think that another loss to Nate in similar fashion will start the decline of his popularity. There's only so long a guy can go as the main draw if he's losing consistently.

 

I can't really argue against it being a bit cuntish, but I like McGregor enough to overlook it, basically.

 

I agree that a loss again to Nate would be a huge drawback, and in that sense I'm not sure why Conor's pushing for it so hard. Both UFC and John Cavanagh wanted Conor to go back to 145- McGregor vs. Edgar would be a very good main event teamed with Tate's title defense. But if a Nate who had zero training camp was able to eat Conor's best shots, rally back and finish it on the ground in short order, I don't see how Conor can make the adjustments to beat Nate when he's had a full training camp and is in optimum fighting shape.

[David]

Agreed David on your first point.

 

Regarding the second point, that's the fight business at the end of the day. Shit can crumble in a second. Any fight Mcgregor takes is risky.

 

You've got to remember, Mcgregor was always about fight, get rich, and get out quick. If it all falls apart after this next Nate fight, then it's been a hell of a ride.

 

Its obvious this is the fight that he wants. Hats off to guy attempting the challenge.

 

Which is kinda what I mean. Why would the UFC cave to a guy who, theoretically, could lose this fight against Nate and call it a day? All that would happen is they'd be left having set the precedent of allowing a fighter more power, which they'll have to deal with down the road.

 

If Conor's no longer fighting (for real, let's imagine), then they'll no doubt have similar issues with Jones, Ronda and any future stars. I can't see a company as control-hungry as the UFC allowing that to be honest.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah that's why they don't want to bend. But if McGregor did walk away, they could use that as the very excuse for not bending to other fighter's demands in the future. 'Look what we did for Conor and he left us high and dry'. It's if the bend and Conor sticks around they'll have a problem because Conor will keep trying to squeeze them for more with every fight. Just watch if this fight with Nate goes ahead, it'll probably break the UFC 100 record then when they're trying to set up McGregor's next fight with Aldo or Frankie he's going to be relentless with the 'Ye gotta give me more money now Uncle Frank, Lorenzo and Dana. I smashed the PPV record. I saved UFC 200. I tink we need to renegotiate my money.' And all this will happen again until they either end up having to cave again and give him what he wants or they actually stop and say 'Alright, enough's enough. We're not upping your money again'.

 

Conor's actually doing what fighters need to do more. Obviously they'd need to have significant power and leverage, it'd be no good someone like Ryan Bader bowling into Dana's office and slamming his fist on the desk saying 'We need to talk about my money'. But negotiating should be part of big fights. Whether it's money, the amount of media work etc. If you don't ask you don't get. I wonder how much extra money McGregor's made over the last two years simply because he's asked/negotiated for it. Most UFC fighters have been conditioned to accept what's offered and be grateful.

[David]

The thing for me is the way he's going about it. Social media posts whilst sitting in Iceland? Trying to leverage public support to pressurise your boss into doing something? I'm not sure that's the best way to get a result you want.

 

And even if he does get what he wants, let's say that dc's doctor says "no dice" for July and the UFC have no other option, all he's done is sour that relationship with the company.

 

I'm still not convinced that he went about all of this the right way, and I'm not convinced he sat down in private and had this discussion with the UFC before blowing shit up on social media.