Mailbag: Will Conor McGregor Fight Again? UFC 303 Updates

Well, of all the weekends that have happened, that sure was one of them.

UFC Vegas 93 went down on Saturday night to almost no fanfare whatsoever. Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen boxed each other to much more fanfare, but somehow even less action than the APEX offered. Mix in those lackluster events with the fact that all hell broke loose around UFC 303 and the now-delayed return of Conor McGregor, and there’s really only one topic on everyone’s minds this week.

Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler

If Conor v Chandler does eventually happen, will it have been worth the wait?

So as you all know by now, Conor McGregor was forced out of his planned fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 due to injury. The talk is that UFC hopes to rebook the matchup for later this year, but I will simply reiterate the same position I’ve had since McGregor shattered his leg back in 2021: I’ll believe it when I see it.

McGregor is not returning from some run-of-the-mill MCL tear or something like that. This is a catastrophic injury that forces athletes to come face-to-face with their own mortality. McGregor is about to turn 36 years old, he’s richer than cream, and he has family and other things to attend to in his life. On top of that, he’s already been champ in two divisions! He’s not going to have a late-career Robbie Lawler run that redefines his legacy, and he certainly doesn’t need the money, so why come back at all?

“Because he’s a fighter! This is who he is!”

Sure, that tracks if there’s nothing else wrong with him. But there clearly is something wrong. Dustin Poirier has clear, tangible reasons to want to continue fighting AND he’s relatively healthy, but after UFC 302, Poirier is leaning towards retirement anyway out of concern for his health. Now that Conor’s had a setback, at some point doesn’t his family tell him, “Hey, don’t do this. We don’t need it and if something goes wrong, that’s forever.”

If I had to guess, it’s 50/50 McGregor actually fights again. But I guess we’ll see.

But let’s say he does fight and it even happens to be against Chandler. Will it have been worth it? I guess?

Here’s the thing: I don’t care about this fight. At all. Don’t get me wrong; it will probably be a fun fight and it will certainly be big—that’s true for all McGregor fights. Aside from this being Conor’s return, what’s the draw? There’s no real animosity here, no real rivalry—just one guy trying to come back from injury and another trying to get the rub from him. Sure, that’s fine—but it isn’t something that demands my attention.

I would feel very different if this was McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje or Charles Oliveira. Instead, this fight feels akin to Conor’s bout with Donald Cerrone: A reasonable matchup that’s pretty forgettable.

Backups

In an unlikely world where UFC secured a backup fighter for the next scheduled McGregor-Chandler matchup that all parties agreed to regardless of who’s forced to pull out what’s your best guess as to who that fighter would be?

This would never happen because Chandler isn’t going to fight anyone not named Conor at this point unless Conor retires. But if somehow it did their are only two people who would make any sense at all: Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira.

Both men are big enough stars to keep Conor around and both have a history with Chandler.

Maybe you could add Max Holloway to the list but rumor is he turned that opportunity down for UFC 303 because of his featherweight title aspirations and I don’t think Conor would fight him again honestly.

Max would annihilate Conor in a rematch so that would be bad career management.

Matchups

Which fight is more likelyto occur:
< pid ="zU4dix ">Conor vs.Chandler Jon Jones vs.Stipe Miocic Mike Tyson vs.Jake Paul

< pid ="XUF1Ao ">Jones vs.Miocic isthe fightthat ’s most likelyto happenfrom these three because Jones Stipeand Dana White(and literally no one else)will forceit down our throats come hell or high water.

< pid ="VS7cO4 ">This time last year a Jones vs.Miocic matchup was pretty silly but everyone was fine withit becauseit made < em > some sense.A year later itis obviously idiotic but White would rather get struck by a meteor than admitthat so these two men will fight whatever ittakes.

< pid ="L8UZ7H ">Tysonand Paul arenext asthey both seemto really wantthis tohappen.The big blocker hereisthatat some point reason the powers thatbe won ’t allowanear -60-year-old man tofight someonein his athletic prime.

< pid ="LPcSPg ">Thenit ’s Conor vs.Chandler forallthe reasons previously mentioned.

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< strong > Next man up

< blockquoteclass ="twitter-tweet"data-dnt ="true"align ="center"data-conversation ="none">
< plang ="en"dir ="ltr ">Since no oneis surprised by Conorpulling out doyou thinkthere ’sa manon theroster torise tohissuperstardom level ?Who becomes thenext red pantynight guy ? — Florida Man Chael(@FLManChael)< ahref= https :// twitter.com/FLManChael/status/1802339830136783128 ? ref_src= twsrc %5 Etfw > June16 ,2024

< blockquote >< pid=__cumgzvruv2n > Since no oneis surprised by Conorpulling out doyouthinkthere ’sa manon theroster torise tohissuperstardom level ?Who becomes thenext red pantynight guy ?

< pid=7N6ZNr > Short answer : No.Conoris oncein ageneration superstar.Thosedon ’t growon treesandit basically required aperfect stormof thingsto convergeto gethimto thisstage.Hellifyou hada time machineand could re-run McGregor ’scareer100 times Idon ’t thinkyou everget backto howbigheisinthisiteration.Conorhigh-rolled every possible outcome forlike four years straight.Credittothatmanfornooneis getting backto thatever again anytime soon.

< pid=SqIrox > Longer answer : < em > If someoneis going todoitit ’s Ilia Topuria.Four million Instagram followers hangingoutwith true global superstars getting therub from Real Madrid oneof biggest brands intheworld —that ’ssuperstar stuff.Andhe ’sonly27 years old.If Topuria beats Max beats Alexander Volkanovski again moves upand claimsthelightweight title —buddy you’re looking atthebiggest star sinceConor.Thenallhe needsisto geta crossover boxing matchwith Canelo Alvarezand notget knockedoutin firstthree roundsand boom nextConoris here.

< pid=p5BVhr > Soyea nooneis gettingtoConorslevelagain.Notuntil MMA becomesthebiggest sportontheplanet whichitwill neverbe.

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< strong > Alex Pereira

< blockquoteclass=twitter-tweetdata-dnt=truealign=centerdata-conversation=none >
< plang=en dir=ltr > Wheredoes Alex Pereira rankamongtheUFC’sgreatest ever signings ? — Mookie Alexander(@mookiealexander)< ahref=https:// twitter.com/mookiealexander/status/1802540831347482721?ref_src=twsrc%5 Etfw > June17 ,2024

< blockquote >< pid=id__0rc0oslqajn > Wheredoes Alex Pereira rankamongtheUFC’sgreatest ever signings ?

< pid=HKP64C > So withConoroutof UFC303 Dana Whiteand company onlyhadoneoption : Turn tothemanwho seemsto alwaysbe savingtheirasses these days Alex Pereira .

< pid=NP1fY0 > Pereiranow headlines UFC303 puttinghislight heavyweight titleontheline against Jiri Prochazkainarematchand whilethese arenotideal circumstances thefightis goingtokickass becauseneitherofthose dudes know anythingotherthanthat.Legitimately UFC303 is better todaythanitwas lastMonday atleastfrom anin-cage perspective .

< pid=gzjY08 > AndwithPereira onceagain servingasUFC’s savior itsurgeshim upthe ranks ofall-time greatest signingsbythepromotion.McGregoris almostcertainlyNo .1 onthattlist Ronda Rouseyis No .2(butI’mnotactually sure shewassigned orif shewas justacquiredas partoftheStrikerforce buy )and Brock Lesnaris No .3 butthere ’sa caseforPereira afterthat .

< pid=trVsYK > Of course onewayto interpretthisistosimply doa listof biggest starsinUFC historybutthat kinda missesthepoint.Signing prospects whoturnintostarsismore good development thanitis good signing.Andwhilethere ’ssomeofthatwithPereira ithasmore like hestarwho simply exceeded expectations akintoLesnar .

< pid=vuC8aX > Andwhen youthinkaboutthroughthat lens itseems like alotof UFCsigningsofthatsortdonotpanout.Forevery Michael Chandler thereisaWill Brooks.Andwhilether mightbe othersigningswhohave goneonto accomplishmorethanPereirahas(even thoughthemanhas accomplishedanabsurd amountina shorttime )there havenotbeen manythathave beenaspivotal .

< pid=UVbLZ2 > Inthepast12 months Pereirawas co-main eventofa pay-per-view headlined Madison Square Garden event headlined UFC300 onshort noticeand now steppinginagain onshort noticetosavetheInternational Fight Week card.Thataboutasvaluableasoneman possiblycanbefora promotion .

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< strong > UFCApex < blockquoteclass=twitter-tweetdata-dnt=truealign=centerdata-conversation=none >
< plang=en dir=ltr > Whatis ideal numberoffights totakeplaceonanMMA card ?11 likethisApex card ?More ?Fewer ? — Jay Pettry(@jaypettry)< ahref=https:// twitter.com/jaypettry/status/1802397399878717543?ref_src=twsrc%5 Etfw > June16 ,2024

< blockquote >Whatisidealnumberoffights totakeplaceonanMMAcard?11likethisApexcard?More?Fewer?Ifigurewe’llendhereafterwhatItrulybelievetobetheworstUFCEVENTEVERassembledintentionally(doesn’tincludecardswheremaineventfelloutlastminuteduetoinjury). TheAPEXisterriblebutI’mnotgoingtoharponit.We’vedoneplentyofthathereatthiswebsite.BUTTHEthingIS,itdoesn’thavetobeterrible.I’mentirelyopentotheideaoffightsinanemptygymnasium.NOTEVERCARDNEEDSTOBEAPAY-PER-VIEWANDTHEYCERTAINLYDON’TALLNEEDTOHAVERAUCOUSCROWD.IamcomfortablewiththeAPEXaspartoftheUFCfanexperience,buttheyjustneedtodobetter.AndfansseemtobecomingaroundtothisafterwatchingtheWWEactuallytryandmakesomethingthatseemedtobereceivedwell.

Here’SMYSTANDINGpitchtoUFCthatisincerelyhopetheyMOVETOONEDAY.

ASETUFCSCHEDULEOF40EVENTSPERYEAR.EACHMONTHTHEUFCHOSTSONEPPEVENTONEFIGHTNIGHTEVENTONTHEROADONEEVENTINTHEAPEXANDONEOFFWEEKENDEVERYMONTH.FORMAY,JUNE,JULYANDAUGUST,YOUREMOVE THATOFFWEEKENDFORASUMMERSCHEDULE,FILLINGINTHEOPENSPOTSWITHTWOAPEXCARDSANDTWOROADSHOWS.

NOAPEXCARDHASMORETHAN10FIGHTS.TRULYNOFIGHTCARDSHOULDLASTEIGHTHOURS,BUTI’LLSETTLEFORATLEASTKEEPINGTHEAPEXEVENTSTOUNDER SIX.

BRINGINREALSEATINGANDMAKETICKETPRICESAFFORDABLE.ENOUGHWITH THEEMPTYGYM.SMALLVENUESAREACTUALLYGREATFORWATCHINGFIGHTSIFYOUFILLTHEMWITHPEOPLE.EVERYAPEXEVENTSHOULDBEASELLOUTANDSHOULDLOOKLIKEAMIDWESTREGIONALSHOWINSTEADOFTHEWEIRDTOPGOLFSTYLESUITEEXPERIENCETHATTHEYCATERTOINSTEAD.

THERE.IFIXEDTHEAPEX.SOMEONEATUFCNEEDSTOHIREMEASAMINISTEROFGOODIDEAS.

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