Conor McGregor’s Return to the Octagon: Will It Be Worth the Wait?
Conor McGregor, the notorious Irish superstar, has been out of action for nearly three years. His last fight ended in a gruesome broken leg, leaving fans wondering if he will ever return to the octagon. While McGregor insists he’s ready to fight again, communication with the UFC has broken down and there is no word on when he will make his comeback.
Meanwhile, Michael Chandler, who signed to welcome McGregor back to the octagon, continues to wait for the fight. He has made it clear that he will not fight anyone else until McGregor returns. However, as his two-year anniversary of inactivity approaches, some are questioning if beating McGregor is still worth the wait.
UFC welterweight Matt Brown understands why Chandler is waiting for the red panty night, as fighting McGregor means a chance to cash in on a huge paycheck. But Brown cautions Chandler that outside of the financial windfall, beating McGregor in 2024 – or whenever they actually fight – won’t really mean that much in the grand scheme of things.
“Michael Chandler’s been waiting for the red panty night for [two] years,” Brown said on the latest episode of Kosport Magazine. “If Conor came back, fought him and Chandler won, how much of a star would that make him? Chandler’s already a pretty good star but I guess the name power would be pretty good, pretty solid but would anybody even really care?
When Nate Diaz did it, it was special. We thought Conor was the man and Nate did it coming in on what f****** two weeks’ notice? That was amazing. But if Chandler did it, I don’t even think we’d be impressed. OK, you beat a dude that’s been doing movies and drinking and partying for three years.”
In some ways, Brown equates Chandler beating McGregor to Jake Paul’s upcoming fight against former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
“It might happen with Jake Paul,” Brown said. “He goes out and beats Mike Tyson, he’s getting that name power, but you’re beating a f****** 57-year-old man. Get out of here.”
Because McGregor appears to be on the backside of his career – his 36th birthday is in July – Brown questions whether his name power alone makes a fight intriguing.
Chandler has bet nearly two years of his career on the fact that beating McGregor still means a lot.
“I think even if he fights Conor, even if he beats Conor, I just wonder if it’s going to be the lottery ticket that it would have been a few years ago,” Brown said. “I don’t know. I’m still learning towards Conor never fighting again.
When [Conor] says things like [he’s anxious to return], it gives me a little bit of [hope], not 100 percent, now it’s like 90 percent he’s not fighting again. I don’t know. It’s just lost so much interest. I know after this movie, he comes back and fights, the mainstream would have a lot of interest in it. Everybody’s going to watch it but if you go beat him it’s like what did you do? I just don’t feel like anybody would be that impressed.”
A lot has changed in McGregor’s absence, with a slew of new fighters emerging as top contenders. So even if he beats Chandler, the path back to the top of any division isn’t an easy road to travel.
Brown believes McGregor will struggle to topple most athletes currently in the top 15 rankings at either lightweight or welterweight, which is where he’s most likely to compete when he returns.
“I would pick [Benoit Saint Denis], I would pick Drew Dober to beat him,” Brown said. “[Renato] Moicano I think would beat him easy – maybe not easy, but I think it would be a good matchup for Moicano. Moicano, he’s that guy that on the right night, he could beat anybody in the division. I think he could be a champion on the right night. He seems to have off nights, too.
He’s in a killer division. 155 and 170. You’ve got a f****** murderer’s row up there. Even at 170, like Neil Magny would beat him. Neil’s what [ranked] 14 or 15?”
That said, Brown hopes that McGregor takes his return to action seriously and puts his considerable resources into transforming himself back into the same fighter who once ranked among the pound-for-pound best in the sport. He’s not betting on that happening, but there’s a world where he could see McGregor coming back with a vengeance.
“If Conor takes it serious, Conor gets healthy, stays off the fun stuff, isn’t drinking or partying or doing whatever he’s putting in his body and he takes it serious, I think all this talk goes out the window,” Brown said. “He still has the talent to beat just about anybody in those divisions. I just don’t see him taking it seriously.
We don’t even know what to believe with what he says. He says all kinds of crazy stuff but if he is still training to some extent, even if in and out, and keeping at least a little bit sharp, he is that guy. He could come back and surprise everybody, look amazing, pull off another Eddie Alvarez moment. He’s a f****** athlete. He’s a great fighter, great eyes, great reactions, so he could just surprise everybody, too. Surprise us by even fighting again in the comeback and look great. I kind of hope that’s what he does, but I don’t think he will.”
