If there is a single mixed martial arts fighter who knows the art of being in the news regardless of the fact that he is competing or not, it has to be the irish fighter, conor McGregor. The fact that he has been absent and has remained suspended from appearing a fight since the past 12 months seems not to have an effect on his presence in making the headlines in the latest MMA News. The major players, who happen to be his colleagues and are not able to win their matches but still want to keep their brand value enact should surely take a few lessons from him.
After his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov in october 2018, Conor had involved himself in a post match brawl, something which was not received well by the authorities and he was suspended from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. This led to him set his gaze at other tasks and businesses that he is very keen on building such as his own brand of alcohol and his own restaurant, which he plans to operate after taking a permanent retirement — he had announced his retirement in March 2019 as well. However, now there are a few new reports suggesting that Conor McGregor has been working on his habits and has started leading a disciplined life to get himself in full focus as he wants to compete inside the octagon again, this time with an improved focus. This might have been bought by the people who are not his fans, but to a person who is out of the UFC Rankings since the past one year has nothing more to lose and has been successful in making headlines — his goal has been achieved already.
The last match in which Conor had completed was against the UFC Featherweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he had lost the fight in the fourth round itself via submission before the well noticed brawl had started that led to his suspension. However, on the questions of bis return to the UFC, Conor has said that UFC is the one who does not want him to compete so early.He has also said that they want all the things associated with me to end before they can sign him again. This seems contradictory to the statement made by the UFC Boss, Dana White who is on good terms with Conor McGregor — on camera, at least. He has already negotiated a contract with Conor McGregor and conor has also confirmed about that. In statement given to CNBC, Conor has said about his returning fight in January 2020:
That is my comeback fight. It is 12 weeks this Saturday. I am in prime physical condition. I have agreed the date with the company. If I was to give you people the name, which I would love to do, I know the UFC would flip it because they are a crafty company.
Conor McGregor will be returning to the Octagon next year on 18 January 2020 in Las Vegas in the T-Mobile arena. Conor has also said that he is now fully focussed and that what has happened in the past won’t be repeated for sure. He has said that he will definitely like to fight again with Khabib Nurmagomedov, not because he had lost against him but because he needs to prove that jkhabib is not better than him. Conor has already served his suspension period of six months and has also paid the required sum of money ($50000) as fine to sum the matter up.
Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal had brawled on 3 November 2019 in a BMF title match, and Conor McGregor had already expressed his desire to get a match with the winner of that match, who came out to be Jorge Masvidal by a technical knockout in the third round of the match. The other match which Conor McGregor is eyeing on post his return on 18 january 2020 is either against Khabib nurmagomedov or against Tony Ferguson for obvious reason — someone following the MMA news would already know about the history of the two players with the Irish superstar.
As if all these things were not enough for Conor to keep him in the news that he has found a report under his name yet again. This is regharding a sexual assault case that is under investigation by a court in Ireland. This is not the first instance when Conor has been accused of a bar assault but it is for sure that the charge, whether legit or fake will give Conor a likely wanted spotlight in the media — publicity sells, whether positive or negative. In this case, Conor has been granted some relief by the magistrate who has asked Conor to issue an apology or fight the case and prove that he is not at all guilty. Conor McGregor also has the backing of Dana White in this matter and the UFC boss has said that he knows that it is not Conor who has done this. He said:
“I know zero about that. To be honest with you, the back and forth that I’ve had with him about that, it’s not him. It’s somebody else, so I don’t know.”
It is obvious that Dana white has always backed his fighter if he has felt that they are not wrong because ultimately he understands that a lot of things keep on happening behind the scenes as a result of alignment efforts in the business. Conor McGregor is highly confident of his next inning at UFC and he has also said that this time he would pass through everything like a chainsaw passes through butter. But, it is not completely in the hands of Conor to pass through it easily because he knows very well that there are people who have stopped him, and can stop him again. But the fact is, conor is a pro and knows the art of making money — while all others are simply earning it via their salaries.