On Sunday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship presents a novelty Sunday card, following an extensive day of playoff football, in an effort designed to do one thing and one thing only: to make Conor McGregor a household name.
McGregor is already one of the more notable fighters on the UFC roster, which is remarkable considering he has just four fights in the promotion. He has vaulted far past tenured fighters in terms of both salary and screen time. The advertising campaign for UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston centered solely around McGregor, with opponent Dennis Siver relegated to a tiny speck in the background, barely even mentioned.
But it was all for a purpose. With a win, McGregor will move on to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship. It will be the UFC’s first big-time fight below 145 pounds, and so the McGregor-centric programming will have been worth it.
But in our second edition of The Question, fellow pundit Jonathan Snowden and I try to figure out if this Sunday is indeed the moment when McGregor takes over the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Jeremy Botter: Jonathan, this seems like an important week for the UFC.
It has been awhile since they created any real new stars. You and I have grown plenty old since the days of Liddell and Hughes and Griffin. And yeah, there is Ronda Rousey and maybe Jon Jones, but who else?
The UFC is betting big on McGregor, the brash Irishman who talks a big game and then backs it up in the cage. So far, anyway. Nearly every bit of advertising for Sunday’s UFC Fight Night is centered on McGregor; opponent Dennis Siver is an afterthought.
The UFC has taken their time on McGregor. They’ve pushed him hard, but perhaps not as hard as they wanted to. And so the question I pose to you is this: Is this Sunday the day when McGregor cements himself as one of the biggest stars in the sport?
Jonathan Snowden: I fully expect McGregor to knock Siver silly, say something charming and bask in the cheers of the Boston faithful. McGregor is the real thing. He’s going to leave his mark on this sport. Consider me among the converted.
Here’s the problem—he’ll be playing, once again, only to the faithful. I was a big advocate of getting Conor on free television. If enough people get a taste, I think they’ll be back begging the UFC to take their money.
But this isn’t on Fox. It’s on Fox Sports 1. And it’s on the same night as the NFL playoffs. That doesn’t help spread the word of Mr. McGregor‘s arrival. It’s treading water. And that’s a shame.
Jeremy: I agree with you on the television front. It probably would’ve been a better thing to have McGregor headlining next week’s show in Sweden instead, because that one airs on Fox. But then you’d relegate Alexander Gustafasson to the co-main event, and that’s not a great solution, either.
The reality here is that the UFC’s television platform—whether it’s Fox or Fox Sports 1—just isn’t what it used to be. There used to be a time when putting burgeoning new stars on UFC television cards could launch important, sustainable careers. But those days are over. Fox Sports 1 is, depending on how you choose to view things, either a total failure or a long-term project that hasn’t quite achieved vertical success.
But as far as the UFC goes in 2015—and for the audience they are capable of reaching at this point—I think you’ll see this fight card as a massive success. Not a massive success compared to the Lesnar-era UFC, but a massive success for RIGHT NOW. I have two friends who I wouldn’t even call casual fans of mixed martial arts; I use them as my litmus test. If they’ve heard of a fighter or they’re excited for a fight card, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be a success.
But we are in uncharted waters here, with a Sunday night card airing immediately after one gazillion hours of football. If I’m a football fan (which I’m not), I don’t think I’d want to stay in front of the television for another few hours to watch fights after the AFC and NFC Championship Games conclude. But that’s me.
Jonathan: Let’s forget the details and nuances of how they are going about spreading the joy of Conor across their various platforms. Just the fact that the UFC is even trying to build a new star is tremendously exciting for fans like me who want to see this sport take its first steps into adulthood.
For years, the UFC lived and died by the brand. They were selling the UFC. The specific fighters competing on a given night were secondary to that—always. That was fine when the UFC was first bursting onto the scene and there was genuine excitement about each and every UFC card.
Today, however, the landscape has changed. Between the UFC’s increased offerings and well-funded alternatives like Bellator, there has never been more MMA on television. Just showing up with the UFC logo and a cage doesn’t cut it. Fans differentiate between shows and between fighters. The UFC needs more fighters who can make an impact. And, in McGregor, they’ve found one.
Jeremy: They certainly have. I’ve been on the McGregor train from the beginning, and that was before I realized that he’s actually a good fighter. I don’t know if I count myself among those who believe he’s going to beat Jose Aldo, but he could. He very well could, and that’s what makes him so intriguing.
The answer to our question this week, I believe, is yes. This Sunday night is the moment when McGregor rises above the rest the UFC, or at least assumes his place as one of its three or so biggest stars.
But once that happens, who is next? There are no McGregors on the horizon. The Irishman fell into their laps, and he had all of the qualities needed to become an instant star.
In other words, the UFC didn’t have much of a hand in creating Conor McGregor, because McGregor did that all by himself. As a promotion, they have proven themselves woefully incapable of creating new stars in recent years, and the ones who HAVE become stars were dropped into their laps.
So, yeah. McGregor will become of the UFC’s most bankable stars on Sunday. But without others to support him, it won’t mean all that much.
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