When Conor McGregor speaks, the whole MMA world listens. When Conor McGregor fights, the whole sports world watches. And when Conor McGregor does idiotic shit, like he does all the time, it makes headline news. Such is life when you’re one of the biggest stars, and biggest box-office draws, the sport of mixed martial arts has ever produced.
And, you know, it had really been a bit too long since McGregor had dominated the news cycle. And with his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier signed for July 10, McGregor played one of the only cards he had to get himself back into the spotlight ahead of the fight: saying that he was calling the bout off over a petty dispute.
It really is rather jarring to see, especially after how respectful the discourse between Poirier and McGregor has been over the last several months, even after Poirier dealt the Irish great a stunning knockout loss earlier this year. McGregor publicly congratulated and credited Poirier for his perfectly gameplanned performance, and humbly promised to get back in the gym and train harder for his next shot – he had previously pledged to make a sizable donation to Poirier’s Good Fight Foundation charity.
About that. Poirier alleged earlier this week that McGregor had actually ghosted him when it came time to actually donate the money, prompting the Twitter outburst and the cancellation threat. McGregor still seems like he wants to fight on the July 10 date, but only against someone other than Poirier. And if you’re buying any of this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Let’s take a step back here: if Conor McGregor still fought Khabib Nurmagomedov after throwing a cart into a bus window, he’s not going to walk away from the millions of dollars that he would stand to earn for fighting Poirier over a Twitter spat. It’s true that Justin Gaethje remains unbooked, and publicly frustrated over not having received his next fight from the UFC after losing to Khabib last year. He would seem to be the perfect opponent for McGregor, or Poirier, should this fight fall through – but the fact of the matter remains that the profile of that fight would pale in comparison with the Poirier trilogy.
Conor McGregor has made it very clear throughout his career that he is, first and foremost, about money. And there is zero doubt that McGregor-Poirier 3 is the single biggest money fight that the UFC can make in 2021. UFC 264 will surely perform the best pay-per-view buyrate of any show this year, no matter who else is on the card. (But just as an aside, Gilbert Burns–Stephen Thompson is looking like a pretty sweet co-main.)
Fights like this come apart over drug tests, injuries, illnesses, arrests, and plates of tiramisu. They don’t come apart because someone was mean to you on Twitter. If anything, this is a marketing strategy to build even more interest for the fight when it’s suddenly back on – and it’s never actually been taken off the schedule. This fight is signed. Their names are on the contract. It’s happening. Only now… the stakes are personal. Or whatever.
Never forget that this is Conor McGregor, the man who has pulled more stunts than Evel Knievel. There are still many ways this fight could fall through between now and July 10: this isn’t one of them. Don’t fall for it.
The Big Fight 