Have we already witnessed Conor McGregor’s final performance in the UFC?
With more than three years passed since his last appearance and no sign when he may compete again, McGregor’s future seems more in question now than ever before. In fact, Matt Brown has long maintained that McGregor was never going to return but his argument was only strengthened after Michael Chandler moved on from a showdown against the Irish superstar after sitting out for nearly two years waiting for the fight to happen.
“It’s clear — he’s not grinding the way a guy getting ready to compete should be grinding,” Brown said about McGregor on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I’m still on that same thought process of look we’re probably never going to see Conor again. If we do, I would not be blown away, I’ll say I was wrong, whatever. I don’t think we’re seeing him again in the UFC cage.”
Brown believes there are a myriad of reasons why McGregor won’t likely fight again but perhaps the strongest indication actually came back in 2021.
That was the night McGregor suffered a gruesome broken leg in a trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier, which served as his second straight loss in a row. Looking back now, Brown says he saw something change in McGregor that he just can’t get back again.
“When that [fight] happened, it looked to me that Dustin took his soul that day,” Brown said. “I think we all felt that. Maybe we didn’t know it would be as severe as it is. We thought Conor’s a warrior, he’ll be back soon. But when you back and you watch that fight, Dustin took his f*cking soul.
“I thought Nate Diaz might have taken a little bit the first time [he beat Conor] but Conor bounced back from it. Whatever Dustin did to him, I think Dustin actually took his soul, and he no longer had the desire to compete anymore.”
Of course, McGregor would likely disagree considering his constant calls to get booked for fights and complaints that he’s been sidelined far longer than he ever intended after recovering from the injury.
UFC CEO Dana White said he expects McGregor back sometime in early 2025 but he wasn’t willing to contemplate an opponent until the former two-division champion is actually ready to return.
With Chandler out of the running for now — he could obviously still end up as McGregor’s opponent after he competes at UFC 309 — Brown just isn’t sure what options are available.
“If he comes, who does he come back against?” Brown said. “The division has moved on. The Conor of 2016 is not the Conor of today. I can’t think of a single good matchup for him in the top 10. There’s a million lightweights in the world but he’s got to fight a top 10 guy. He’s Conor McGregor. There’s no way he comes back fighting No. 20 or No. 25 or something.
“He has to fight a top 10 guy. Who’s a decent matchup for him in the top 10 to come back [against] after four years?”
While there is no denying McGregor’s status as the biggest draw in the UFC, Brown doesn’t know if his name carries much more weight than that these days.
It’s been eight years since McGregor last held UFC gold and he hasn’t fought for a UFC title in six years.
A win over McGregor certainly results in a big paycheck and a lot of attention but Brown says that’s really the most anybody is getting if he actually comes back.
“The problem now that everybody would have, too, it is just a money fight,” Brown explained. “It’s not going to get you closer to a title beating Conor McGregor, other than bringing your name value up.
“Beating Conor McGregor, you might skip the line a little bit because you just blew your name up a lot but no one’s going to be like ‘you deserve a title fight now that you just beat Conor McGregor.’”
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