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The discussion this week has all been about the amount of publicity McGregor has to do for his fights and the amount he has to travel to do it while preparing for competition. That public discussion aside, the issue between the two sides quite obviously goes much deeper. A battle for power has been brewing between the two sides for a great deal of time. McGregor brings in a lot of money, and he’s strongly ambitious. The UFC has a system of control it works hard to preserve. From financial terms to promotional credits to matchmaking, the two sides have much to haggle over in the coming years. The UFC is going to have to draw the line in the sand with McGregor at times. The company just needs to pick its spots, and this is the wrong spot on so many levels.
With the potential revenue at stake at UFC 200, it’s not the time or the place to be presenting less desirable matchups on principle. Injuries are of course always a threat, but to purposefully and without injury replace a main event fans want to see more with a main event fans want to see less is not the move when you’re trying to present your biggest business show ever. Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier is a big fight, but it would feel like a letdown with McGregor-Nate Diaz available.
In the abstract, McGregor-Diaz was already a bigger fight than Jones-Cormier. After this week, the distance in interest between the two fights has grown into a chasm. Jones’ performance against Ovince St. Preux at UFC 197 was underwhelming, while all the chaos surrounding McGregor has created tremendous buzz for and interest in the Diaz fight. It is now the forbidden fruit, making it all the more desirable. McGregor-Diaz after this week will be a much bigger fight than it was before. It dominated an April 22 press conference designed to highlight basically every big fight on the upcoming UFC schedule.
Fertitta and White may try to convince themselves that this groundswell will diminish as UFC 200 approaches, but if anything, the opposite is more likely. Mainstream stories will talk about the fact McGregor isn’t there as much as the fights that are actually taking place. It’s clearly fertile clickbait, and McGregor is unlikely to remove himself from the public eye to make things easier for the UFC. This is just not the narrative the UFC needs going into a show that can be so big. It’s a real problem.
Beyond this not being the time or place to get into a battle of wills with McGregor, it’s also the wrong issue. Sports teams and leagues have been able to rally public opinion against athletes by labeling them greedy. The UFC has won over plenty of fans in past public disputes with popular fighters, and it’s almost always by playing the money card. By contrast, the issue of attending press conferences doesn’t resonate with anyone. Fans don’t care and even fellow fighters don’t care about double standards when it comes to doing press. It’s a loser of a wedge issue.
Beyond public opinion, the stakes are also low as far as the consequences of holding the line on press. Fulfilling press obligations is an important part of the fight game, and the UFC absolutely needs to make sure fighters play their role in building up fights. It’s just that there’s no obvious precedent being set in the dispute with McGregor. The man clearly does a lot of publicity. It’s part of how he got so big. He has even volunteered to help to make up for the missed Las Vegas press conference, where his absence was more effective in promoting the Diaz fight than anything he could have done by attending anyway. No negative public message is being sent to anyone if McGregor is brought back for UFC 200.
The stalemate at this point clearly has a lot to do with pride on both sides. In that regard, the UFC should recognize that it has already won. McGregor’s “retirement” was a negotiating ploy, an attempt to take control of the situation and get the promotion to beg him to come back for UFC 200. The UFC called his bluff and just removed him from the card. At that point, McGregor blinked. He rescinded the retirement threat and made it clear he wants to come back for the show. The UFC should just claim victory and move on. It’s not a total victory, but it’s close enough.
The UFC may feel it needs to make a strong point with McGregor, but that’s a game that’s not necessarily to its benefit over the long haul. Right now, it has the power in the situation, but it’s highly likely McGregor will have the power at points in the future. The UFC and McGregor both benefit from being allies and friends, not adversaries. Fighters who are resentful towards perceived slights by the UFC tend to fight back when they have the leverage to do so. We’ve seen it from some of the sport’s biggest figures like Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko, Tito Ortiz and B.J. Penn. The UFC most certainly won’t benefit from McGregor sitting back and plotting his opportunity to get even.
With little to gain and an enormous amount to lose from keeping McGregor off the UFC 200 lineup, the decision to bring back the Irishman should be an exceedingly easy one for the UFC. It’s time for the organization to think of the bigger picture, to think of the fans, and make the right call.