McGregor Is UFC’s Meal Ticket, So His Hall Pass Allows Everything From Attacking Buses to Press Conference Whiskey
By CASSANDRA COUSINEAU
LVSportsBiz.com
Conor McGregor walked onto the stage at Radio City Music Hall for the first press conference of UFC 229, which is set for Oct. 6 at T-Mobile Arena, and uttered in an Irish accent, “Where the f—ng fans at?”
And we were off. It was clear this show didn’t need a live audience for a performance to take place.
Sipping on his own Proper Twelve Whiskey, the UFC star known as “The Notorious” drank himself into a louder, and less succinct version of himself.
All the while, his newest sworn enemy, Khabib Nurmagomedov, sat stoically, answering only when called upon by a member of the media. The rhetoric oscillated from homophobic to throwing verbal jabs at just about every member of his Russian opponent’s family.
It’s been two years since McGregor was officially inside an UFC Octagon. He used to be a sure bet to have his hand raised.
Nobody knows what the 30-year-old Irishman will actually be able to deliver this time around.
Remember, he was on the losing end of his last fight. Yes, it was a boxing match, but it was still an L. In case you’re counting, McGregor is 1-0 against big buses in the bus division.
Going back to the lead up for the infamous money grab known as MayMac of 2017, McGregor’s lethal left hand has been replaced by an acerbic, profanity-laced tongue. For as much as the former, two-strap champ professes to be an independent original, McGregor, is, in fact a company man.
Not so much in the traditional sense of being a conventional, polite company man. The UFC — and ringmaster Dana White — are willing to oblige just about anything from its one and only mainstream superstar for the sake of the bottom line.
Let’s take a look at just a few hall passes he’s been granted during the past 12 months.
- Busting up a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters involved in UFC 223 at The Barclays Center. Michael Chiesa was forced to withdraw from his bought due to a cut sustained by glass in his eye. McGregor was subsequently stripped of his lightweight title. However, it’s the same title he’s fighting for on Oct. 6.
- In Nov. 2017, he leaped into the cage, shoved referee Marc Goddard and slapped a Bellator employee in the face.
- During the first presser with Khabib, Connor flippantly brought up historic ethnic tensions between citizens of Chechnya and Dagestan. Nurmagomedov is from that region, and believe this, there isn’t any joke to be made about the ethnic tensions between the citizens residing there.
- The FORMER champ was allowed to parade around with two belts while taunting the current lightweight titleholder. Remember how the UFC stripped McGregor of that exact belt after BusGate? Essentially, he was carrying the one belonging to Khabib.
- UFC didn’t acquiesce to McGregor’s demands for a share of ownership. Instead, they allowed him to get soused on Proper Twelve Whiskey, his own company, and provided a ton of free advertising in and outside of the Octagon along the way. Proper Twelve will be a sponsor of all of McGregor’s next six UFC fights, and have presence in the Octagon.
White is on record explaining exactly why he tolerates the antics from his superstar. “It’s not hard to do a deal with Conor McGregor because we know what he’s worth,” White told ESPN.
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The highest paid employee on the UFC roster doesn’t just move the needle.
He is the needle.
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