LAS VEGAS – If you haven’t seen it by now, Conor McGregor’s attempt at a comeback after a five-year layoff ended in nightmarish fashion on Saturday. The once Notorious Irishman went out in humiliation, suffering a knee injury on his very first action of the fight.
Afterwards, a distraught McGregor took to social media to convey his heartbreak and deny rumblings that he was entering with a pre-existing injury. On Monday, McGregor posted on Instagram that he plans to get surgery and that he’ll fight out the last remaining fight on his contract.
Let me just say it in no uncertain terms: McGregor absolutely, positively should never step foot in the Octagon again. His last two attempts have ended in catastrophic injury, and he has just one win that occurred after the end of the Barack Obama administration. McGregor was never the insurmountable foe he was often made out to be in his prime, and he hasn’t even been close to that level as a fighter on this side of the 2020s.
How Dana White could save McGregor’s future
Fortunately for McGregor, Dana White’s new Zuffa Boxing project could potentially present some intriguing options for his final contracted fight with UFC and the TKO organization. Perhaps it’s a boxing match against an enigma like Jake Paul, which would almost certainly find itself in Mayweather-McGregor territory in terms of hype and handle. And on the topic of Mayweather-McGregor, could you even rule out the possibility of running that back a second time.
The reality of McGregor’s situation is that he simply can’t be trusted to sell a high-level MMA fight again. Fans were already reluctant to buy into any pre-fight hype this time around, and it feels like a near impossible task to once again try and sell the fact that a man who’s spent the better part of the last decade destroying his own body and mind can fight at a high level.
If McGregor attempts to box once again, it almost certainly removes another catastrophic leg injury from the equation. Despite the fact that he lost to Mayweather in 2017, his performance in that bout showed that has the hands to seriously contend with the best boxers on the planet. I’d expect him to have an even better performance against Mayweather if he did go down the path of that second fight.
If McGregor and TKO/Zuffa attempt to pivot to a Jake Paul fight, the fireworks that will come from those promotional press conferences and face-offs would likely make the bout the most viral fight in history. McGregor would certainly have to find an answer for Paul’s size and power, but the fact that Paul’s jaw is so severely compromised from the Anthony Joshua fight gives McGregor a window for an early stoppage.
In reality, the idea that either Mayweather or Paul are next for McGregor seems far-fetched. Admittedly, I don’t know the legal logistics that would be required to move his contract from UFC to Zuffa boxing either, though I imagine it’s something that can be done. As it stands, I would expect to see McGregor finish out his contract in the Octagon against either Michael Chandler or Max Holloway once again.
