UFC President Dana White made it pretty clear on what his intentions are for Conor McGregor should the Irishman win his next bout inside of the Octagon.
Venture off into the Twittersphere or any dungeon stockpiled with viral comments and you’ll find two parties: One in favor of McGregor and his meteoric rise to the top of the 145-pound division and one in opposition of any and everything the man does.
Eyes—no matter whether they reside in a person hoping to see him fail or succeed—will be glued on that television set when McGregor steps into the Octagon this Sunday against Dennis Siver in Boston.
He’s an intriguing fighter; few can doubt that. But what many can doubt is whether or not a victory over the division’s 10th-ranked fighter merits a shot at the best 145 pounder the planet has ever seen.
So, does McGregor deserve a shot at the title with a win over Siver? In short: Yes. Absolutely, positively yes.
Many of the adversarial arguments rest upon the idea that the champion has another viable challenger in his wake—former 155-pound titleholder and former 145-pound title contender Frankie Edgar. It’s a fair argument, really. Ranked three spots higher in the UFC’s hierarchy, Edgar capped off victories over now No. 9-ranked Charles Oliveira and a first-time featherweight B.J. Penn before dominating the now-fourth-ranked Cub Swanson for nearly five full rounds.
But Edgar already had his shot at the champion; and it came off of back-to-back losses to Benson Henderson. Keep in mind that Edgar’s title shot came after Ricardo Lamas had extended his winning streak to four.
So, yeah. There’s that.
Plenty of others standing in opposition of the Irishman’s title hopes point toward the notion that the UFC’s head honchos have been hand picking McGregor‘s opponents, claiming they wouldn’t dare contractually obligate him to face a wrestler for fear of losing out on the ridiculous profits they’d likely earn with about 82,000 of his countrymen cheering him on.
But coloring McGregor‘s resume hand-picked for his success is a bit unfair, especially when you take the time to analyze it a bit. His first two fights in the UFC, against Marcus Brimage and Max Holloway, can hardly be contested in this sense. McGregror was a UFC newcomer looking to earn some much needed victories in the eyes of the mainstream MMA fans.
Where the argument can truly begin is in McGregor‘s third fight, which was originally scheduled against Cole Miller, who no, isn’t considered a wrestler. What Miller, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with 15 submission wins, could’ve tested is McGregor‘s grappling skills.
An injury to Miller would force the UFC to find a replacement in Diego Brandao, who like McGregor at the time, was unranked. Long known for his strike-now worry-about-cardio-later approach to fighting, Brandao couldn’t have been a better opponent for the always calm McGregor.
Then came the naturally intriguing storyline between McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Again, it wouldn’t be an opportunity to showcase the Irishman’s wrestling defense (or offense, for that matter). So, no, McGregor hasn’t faced a top wrestler just yet. And, no, he still won’t have faced an elite wrestler even after fighting Siver this Sunday.
But with McGregor healthy and ready to fight in early 2015, the UFC could ill afford to have one of their biggest draws sitting on the sideline while a proven wrestler was ready to go. The promotion needed a viable top-10 opponent for its prized fighter; Siver was their guy.
Realistically, if the UFC had any intention on appeasing the critics, Nik Lentz would have been their guy.
But he wasn’t and you’d be hard pressed to blame them. Lentz isn’t widely considered a head-turner. His name doesn’t move the needle. His style does less to convince average fans to tune into the main event of UFC Fight Night 59 on Fox Sports 1. Compromising the excitement of the main event to satisfy the needs of a unconvinced minority—especially when it could be competing with the NFL’s AFC Championship Game—would be unwise. It isn’t a complete compromise, either, with Siver and Lentz only separated by two spots on the rankings.
Even without facing a true wrestler, let us be reminded that Chad Mendes stringed together five-straight victories against much lesser opponents before earning his second title shot against Aldo. The kicker that nobody seems to talk about? He didn’t really face any elite strikers in that span before jumping back into the cage with the champion who knocked him out two years before his second crack.
Say what you will, but we’re one more first-round TKO away from watching the silver-tongued phenom challenge for UFC gold.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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