It appears as though nice Conor McGregor, which was a guy that I was actually starting to appreciate, it returning to his old ways that got him the fame he has today. Yeah, yeah, without his controversial mouth he wouldn't be nearly as captivating to watch as he is and there is no denying his skill. However, when you think about someone who is mild-mannered but also a great fighter, such as Dustin Poirier, it doesn't exactly bring about the same enthusiasm for a card does it?
Imagine if Poirier was fighting Justin Gaethje or Charles Oliveira: Would the same amount of hype and pay-per-view buys be happening? I guarantee you that it would not. It is precisely McGregor's mouth, as much as his left fist, that draws in the people in droves.
Many tune in to watch how he will perform and cheer for him, many others tune in because they are sick of his S**T and want yet another opponent to tap him out.
I am one of the people that roots against McGregor. This all started back when someone else with a similarly huge mouth, Nate Diaz, called McGregor out, got a superfight with the man, and then beat him. I remember I was in a packed pub when this happened and when McGregor tapped out the place erupted in cheers. At least for my location, there were many more people rooting against him than for him. One of the guys in the crowd was actually from Ireland and was also cheering against McGregor.
This "bad boy" persona works for McGregor very well the same way that being a villain always worked better for certain WWE wrestlers (Ric Flair comes to mind) than when they were babyfaces. It all depends on the person and McGregor being a nice guy, doesn't seem to attract near as much attention as people loving to hate him does.
Since this industry is about money (as are all sports) it wouldn't surprise me at all if Dana White was actually encouraging this.
McGregor, during a recent interview with ESPN he took a couple of jabs at Khabib by stating this
"Do you know that the unified title was never crowned? ... Khabib fled the cage and left me fighting with his family members in the cage.”
He also made the dubious but also true claim that he never lost the belt in a fight, it was taken from him by the UFC due to inactivity while he was focused on making hundreds of millions of dollars fighting Floyd Mayweather.
He also made a push, which of course is in no way official, that the fight between him and Poirier this upcoming weekend should be a fight for the interim title since Khabib is no longer around.
He added a bit more fuel to the fire by suggesting that the last fight with Khabib was a fluke
I think he’s afraid to fight me, that’s for damn sure, and I don’t blame him, I fought the best of him on that night, he fought the worst of me on that night. He knows it, I know it, his team knows it
These statements have two effects and it wouldn't surprise me if White is behind it also. One, it creates even more hype around the fight which probably already has a ton of PPV orders (they are always looking for more!) and two, it is designed to anger Khabib, who has been on the fence about renegging on his retirement that he announced after his 29th victory.
Will Khabib come back to shut this man up a 2nd time? I'm sure that UFC hopes so, but before we even get to that point, the "Notorious One" needs to prove his mettle at 257 this weekend. Will you be watching? I know I will be.