UFC bad boy Conor McGregor was pretty excited to announce his most recent contenders ranking (no, not like that). His recent Instagram post went into detail about how he placed as the world’s fourth highest paid athlete for 2018, checking in at a cool $99 million, according to Forbes.
McGregor goes on to explain how if he would have fought on May 12th in Rio De Janeiro, he would have leapt over Cristiano Ronaldo ($108 million), and Lionel Messi ($111 million) to overtake the number two spot on the list. In one fight, Conor McGregor became the world’s fourth highest paid athlete for 2018. Let that sink in for a moment. More than any MLB, NBA…you get it, you know all the acronyms.
As an MMA fan, we’d love to see McGregor back in the ring against anyone other than Mayweather and, according to multiple reports, the fight in Rio would have been for the interim welterweight title against Rafael dos Anjos. The two were also scheduled to fight in a 2016, but RDA was forced to withdraw due to injury (foot).
Needless to say, this fight could have settled many open debates and answered many questions. Talk about far reaching implications, isn’t Rafael dos Anjos supposed to fight at UFC 225?
Now, the judicial system, the UFC, and Conor (in that order by the way) will have to make the decisions on when, where, and with whom his next fight may take place. Let’s play matchmaker for a minute or two.
If the UFC does reinstate McGregor, at a minimum he would have the likes of, Khabib, Nate Diaz, and the aforementioned Rafael dos Anjos awaiting his return. We all want to see Khabib and Conor, but apparently Conor didn’t want to wait. We know Dana White would probably really like to schedule this one. I can’t tell you much you don’t already know about Khabib, at 26-0 he’s a monster, and I’m not sure Conor wants anything to do with that at the moment.
We have to see a McGregor vs. Diaz finale, don’t we? The two fought twice during 2016 with Diaz winning by submission in March, and McGregor winning by decision in August. Another conflict needing resolution.
Unfortunately, McGregor’s next opponent is law enforcement, according to White. During an interview with ESPN’s Sportscenter when asked about Conor’s status with the UFC, White stated, “Yeah well, obviously he has to deal with that in June”. White went on to say, “We’re going to sit down and talk about his future and what’s next, but obviously I have nothing to do with the legal issues, he needs to figure that out on his own.”
It has become an unfortunate and uncomfortable headline with regard to the sport, but at the same time, we didn’t make a lot of his actions at Bellator 187 in Dublin either. I understand he was excited for Charlie Ward’s victory, but the dual shove on the official was unnecessary in my opinion. The last I checked, not many people are allowed inside that cage but every stupid mistake he makes outside the octagon keeps the animal out of the cage, where he’s always in his element.
