You can say what you like about Conor McGregor but the fact remains that the Irishman sensation is a box-office hit both in and outside of the octagon.
But although McGregor is a fighter that might divide opinion, he is no doubt determined and steadfast in what he wants to achieve in a business that has definitely had its ups and downs.
He rarely fails to disappoint inside the octagon whether in victory or defeat. But if you have followed him throughout his career, you will notice that not many professional athletes are so blinkered in achieving greatness; and whatever you say about the Irishman you cannot say that he isn’t trying everything possible to leave a legacy in the UFC.
‘Hard work’ is a popular motto for McGregor one he bands around a lot, and with his rematch with Nate Diaz coming up on August 20th at UFC 202, hard work has been the aim of the game ever since he lost to the American earlier this year after a superb fight which saw Diaz make McGregor submit for the first time in his career.
There is no doubting the 28-year-old divides opinion, some will say he is quite an inspirational chap; others will just say he is a loud mouth, trash talking Irishman. But if you watch his fights and keep an eye on his movements outside of the octagon he is driven to be the best, both in and out of the fight game.
Regardless of previous misdemeanours, McGregor’s influence in UFC will only benefit the company
After the Diaz loss, plenty went on in McGregor’s world; there was a retirement fiasco that was played out in a very public way. Then there were some pretty strong rumours that a mega-fight between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather was on the cards this summer.
But after all that went on McGregor has returned to the UFC looking to rewrite a loss that in truth that has haunted him a tad over the past couple of months.
And after what transpired before, and in the aftermath of UFC 200, many will think McGregor re-emergence inside the octagon later this summer could be a good thing for a sport that has hit the headlines once again for doping.
You can look at UFC 200 in one or two ways: firstly if you want to base the event on purely the fighting you will remember that purely on the fighting it was a good watch. But if you want to look at the wider ramifications, i.e. the positive test for Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar it bought yet more negative headlines to a sport which is trying to eradicate doping amongst its athletes.
But, it was a packed card which saw a UFC legend return in the shape of Anderson Silva, and although Silva was beaten by Daniel Cormier it had that nostalgic feel to a co-main event which in truth was supposed to be a much livelier affair.
Then in the women’s Bantamweight championship match, Amanda Nunes caused an upset by submitting Miesha Tate in the first round. Elsewhere, Lesnar defeated Mark Hunt in the other main event, but we all know what has happened since. And then Jose Aldo returned to the octagon as he defeated long time rival Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision.
But with UFC 202 on the horizon it might be the perfect time for McGregor to come back in and set the event alight; the headlines have been at the wrong end of the spectrum for UFC recently, and with the main event of Diaz and McGregor many might expect another record breaking event.
In his last three fights McGregor has smashed all types of UFC gate records; at UFC 189 he bought in $7.2m after defeating Chad Mendes, then at UFC 194 where he beat Aldo in no less than 13 seconds, he bought in a gate revenue of $10m and then his loss to Diaz bought the company a cool $8.1m so the man knows how to bring in an audience.
But it was UFC 196 which was a particularly sweet success for both UFC and McGregor, and albeit he was on the wrong end of the result, the pay-per-view got 1.5m buys and the company took over $8m with an attendance figure of just 14,898.
And then when you move onto the numbers for the fighters you get a sense of just how big McGregor has become in the business, and his numbers in comparison to Diaz are rather startling; the Irishman took home $1m to show at UFC 196, and then he further pocketed $50,000 for being involved in the fight of the night, and then $40,000 for his Reebok sponsorship. As for Diaz, he got $500,000 to show, $50,000 for being involved in the fight of the night as well, but he also took home $50,000 for performance of the night, and then on top of that he got $20,000 from Reebok, but the numbers still pale in comparison to McGregor.
Breaking records and winning fights is what cements ‘superstar’ status
In a business that is still relatively young; there aren’t many fighters that have gone on to be labelled a ‘superstar’ or ‘legend.’
Silva is someone who springs to mind: a guy who in the early part of UFC dominated the heavyweight division – but with the way McGregor’s stock is rising, not many can argue that he could cement himself as one the best the sport has ever seen.
Debates over who is better than who, and who deserves more recognition in sport happens everywhere across the globe, but to raise someone up in the echelons of superstar stardom is something that should be left to the pundits and recognised journalists.
If you look at the global sports; there are only a handful of current players that deserve ‘superstar’ status; Kobe Bryant and Lebron James spring to mind in Basketball. In Boxing you can’t look no further than Muhammad Ali, and then elsewhere in football, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are regarded as the current superstars of the game.
But back to UFC and McGregor; the 28-year-old might have a little bit more to go before superstar stardom is levelled at him; another couple of big wins and a continuation of breaking UFC records and then being called a superstar can well and truly be justified.
Being a superstar is one thing, but McGregor’s obsession to be the best in both fighting and life is another, the man seems to be driven by success. From growing up from a working class estate in Dublin to headlining packed cards in Las Vegas, the boy from Dublin is well and truly living the American dream.
The more success he has inside the octagon it will be only a matter of time before people start to look to McGregor in a different light, a light that shows the Irishman for what he truly is, a man that despite his floors is striving for absolute greatness in a business that brings success via a combination of a tough chin and a body that is capable of producing that knockout moment.