Issue 152
March 2017
The multi-million dollar question for the UFC in 2017 was: what to do with Conor McGregor? The Irishman could literally hold the UFC to ransom.
In a way, he already does. In the space of two years, he has become the most marketable force in fight sports.
In reality, right now, the UFC needs McGregor more than McGregor needs the UFC.
He’s the first fighter in history to be in this dominant position. And here’s what the UFC should do: free him. Free him up to face Floyd Mayweather. Free him up to appear in the WWE.
McGregor will always come back and he will be an even bigger star, an even more lucrative cash cow for the world’s leading MMA brand by a country mile.
Here’s why. The WWE offers little damage along with a free marketing campaign.
I spoke to the magnificent former WWE star Paul Levesque – AKA Triple H – at UFC 205. Triple H, who runs the wrestling powerhouse now, told me McGregor is “the complete package” and he would have him make an appearance in a heartbeat.
It’s simple, McGregor does a little marketing, steps in and beats a group of guys 100lb heavier than him, then steps out. Priceless pay-per-view drama.
Elsewhere, Mayweather needs a route back into a ring. Michael Rosenthal, editor of The Ring, regarded as the bible of boxing, told me he thinks “both men would be crazy not to do the fight” – the greatest matchup in combat sport right now.
“It’s a $100 million banker for both of them,” he reckoned. “We all really know the outcome in a boxing match, there is little risk for Floyd, but we are all still going to watch it, to buy into it.”
I agree. The reality is this event will unite boxing and UFC fans. So what if the UFC doesn’t have a commercial share in it? If it does, great. If they don’t, it will lose nothing. And you know what, if McGregor summons something magical and wins...
He seems to have the luck of the Irish in almost everything he puts his hand to – and no little skill and self-belief, of course. Everybody hits the jackpot.
Bob Bennett – the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), expressed his reservations to me when I asked him about licensing an elite boxer against a novice, but we must remember the enduring truth about Las Vegas.
When the figures come in it’s not about the money, it’s about the money!
My sources have told me a high-ranking California State Athletic Commission official – and remember, the CSAC has granted McGregor a boxing license – would allow him to fight the likes of Robert Guerrero, a former world champion boxer.
That will have resonated in Nevada. And the residual revenue from Mayweather-McGregor could be off the charts. Moreover, the contest would repair McGregor’s relationship with the NSAC.
It’s a $200 million fight, minimum, and if marketed correctly, the record of 4.6 million pay-per-view sales that Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao made in May 2014 could be shattered – it’s truly that big.
The purists will bark, but the cash registers? Ker-ching.
It’s time for the UFC to get smart about this. They won’t lose McGregor if they don’t agree to any of this. But by allowing the irascible, multi-package Irishman to spread his wings, they will be making their greatest fighting commodity an even bigger star. It’s a no-brainer.
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