According to Dana White UFC fans won’t see Conor McGregor in a UFC cage this year. He said ” He does not have a fight this year and won’t have a fight this year. Conor McGregor will not fight in 2020… I guarantee he will not fight in 2020.” This was said on August 3rd, 2020.
He was then asked today, August 4th 2020 about Conor fighting next year since he was so specific about this year. Dana responded with “We have nothing planned for him in 2021 and as of right now I don’t expect him to fight. We as of now believe he is truly retired.”
Conor McGregor is an interesting man and polarizing sports figure. It’s crazy, but he is arguably the biggest name for someone in their own sport, period. Baseball has Trout but they also have Harper and Betts and others people mention. Basketball has LeBron sure, but who doesn’t also bring up Harden or Giannis or Curry as the biggest figures in the sport. Hockey has Crosby, Ovi, and McDavid. MMA nobody comes close to importance or recognition level as Conor McGregor.
He earned this fame and recognition because when he reached the UFC he went on a tear. He destroyed everything and everyone in sight while talking a massive game, he backed it up. He showed no cares who he upset because Conor on his rise would smash everyone in his path and had no fears. He was unlike anyone we have ever seen and possibly will ever see. He used to be a people’s fighter, he stopped fights and fought often it was amazing. I myself loved him and thought he could be a true GOAT, a Jordon or Brady type legend.
Once he hit Aldo with that counter left hook his game forever was cemented. He took the featherweight belt from who some still to this day call the best featherweight in UFC history. Once he did that he wanted more and went after Nate Diaz twice splitting those fights. Once beating Nate he moved onto the lightweight title dominating Eddie Alvarez which at the time seemed impossible. Conor became the lightweight and featherweight champ in 3 years and 7months of entering the UFC. That was an incredible feat and something that probably can’t be repeated. He also brought in the biggest PPV buys in UFC history.
That’s when his fighting regularly and being a fans fighter ended though. Once he beat Eddie he left to box against Floyd Mayweather a year later in which his gas tank failed him in a fight he was winning until then once again showing his incredible striking skill set.
He returned to the cage one year later following Floyd’s fight, after two full years away from the octagon and being stripped of both belts without ever defending them he came back to fight Khabib for the lightweight title. This is the fight were we saw that the division might have evolved in talent past Conor’s. As Conor was away he faced some legal issues which were false accusations and helped start a business in which he created a whisky called proper no 12. He wasn’t away just doing nothing, but while he was busy with his life the UFC lightweights and featherweights grew leaps and bounds.
Conor is a top level striker one of the best in the world honestly, especially in MMA. He is one of the only people that can self promote himself to over a million PPV buys without any help needed. He isn’t one of the best on the mat but we have seen fighters without ground game be incredibly successful, example Adesanya and Ngannou. He has been outgrown in talent by people like Gaethje, Poirier, and Khabib as he took alot of time off, but if Conor truly is done he will be missed greatly as he brought the fans to the sport in rapid fashion. The sport probably tripled in popularity due to him alone.
Inside The Sports World 