I’d change your bum life. You fight me, it’s a celebration. You ring back home, you ring your wife, ‘Baby we done it, we’re rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich! Break out the red panties! We’re rich, baby.’
That’s McGregor for you. Just making friends on the playground. Another day down in the smack mines.
That snippet is classic, dare it be said typical, Conor. Only there’s something about this snippet (provided in September) that is anything but typical.
He’s talking to a lightweight. In some ways, the lightweight: UFC champion Rafael dos Anjos. McGregor‘s a featherweight.
Dos Anjos took the bait like it was dipped in chocolate, snapping back that a fight with McGregor would be “easy money.” No, Rafael. To McGregor, you are the easy money.
It’s not the first time McGregor has made noise about moving up a weight class (or more). In fact, he’s making plenty more about it in the run-up to UFC 194. Sure, McGregor makes noise about a lot of things, but there’s a glint of sincerity underneath this claim. More than anything, McGregor wants to shine.
Plenty of men have held belts. But only two (Dan Henderson and B.J. Penn) have held belts in two different weight classes at the sport’s major league level. These men carry the same august appeal as two-sport stars do in the mainstream. You don’t think McGregor would like to be considered the Bo Jackson of MMA?
That’s why the UFC should let him try, no matter what happens at UFC 194.
The 27-year-old is 18-2, including a perfect 6-0 in the UFC featherweight division. According to the official UFC rankings, half of those wins came over ranked opponents (Chad Mendes, Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, who is now fighting and ranked at lightweight). To put it mildly, he has established himself in this division.
Are there fights left for him at featherweight? Clearly. No one would argue otherwise. Frankie Edgar would be a blockbuster. Ricardo Lamas would be a test. Cub Swanson would be a slobber-knocking grudge match. A rematch with Holloway might be tempting.
The list goes on. There are fights—very good fights—for him at featherweight and all sorts of combinations to make depending on what happens at UFC 194.
But when you look at the possibilities at lightweight, it’s like a mystical wonderland of blood sport.
How about a rematch with Poirier at 155 pounds? What kind of frenzy would a bout with Donald Cerrone create? Or Anthony Pettis? How about Eddie Alvarez or Edson Barboza? Of, if you don’t want to start that high on the totem pole, perhaps Nate Diaz or Evan Dunham or Ross Pearson? After everything McGregor has said and done (and said), are you really feeling like you want to doubt him?
Oh, and what about that dude Joe Duffy? You know, the last guy to beat McGregor? Duffy just happens to be in the UFC lightweight division right now. You think that might move a few units?
And, of course, there is Dos Anjos, with whom McGregor has already oh-so-conveniently picked the aforementioned fight.
Don’t forget either that there is precedent here. McGregor simultaneously held the lightweight and featherweight belts for Europe’s respected Cage Warriors promotion. No, that’s not the same as holding them in the UFC, but it shows he can do it.
It also shows this is no flight of fancy. Ever since he signed with the UFC, McGregor has set his sights on not two, but three divisional belts. This is not a guy who sets his sights low.
And if it doesn’t pan out, hey, move back to 145 pounds. There will always be good fights there.
Don’t forget: McGregor is still young. Moving weight classes is easier when you’re younger and your body is more willing to cooperate. The window to effectively experiment in this fashion is far shorter than the window of his full career.
Bottom line: McGregor is here to make a mark. A belt would make that mark. But you know what makes an even bigger mark? Becoming only the third person to accomplish something. It’s a short list, and it’s the kind of indelible impression McGregor seems hell-bent on making. If you’re the UFC, why don’t you just let him? While we’re young.
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