There's talk about giving McGregor a title shot? Give me an effing break!

Irish loudmouth Conor McGregor is back in the news again as there are rumblings about him being gifted a title shot as soon as he is ready in 2022. Conor is beyond his prime and hasn't looked good in the octagon ever since he left for a while to do a one off big money making fight against Floyd Mayweather in boxing. Many people with much better understanding of the sport than I have indicate that his stance, the way he strikes, the way he reacts to takedowns, all of this has changed for the worse upon his return from boxing.

D.C., who I don't particularly care for but does know basically everything there is to know about MMA chimed in during an interview to state that there are a "different set of rules for Conor (McGregor)."

src

Now I'm not going to try to take away from McGregor's accomplishments in the past. When he was a 2 division title holder, no one could argue that he was an apex predator and fully deserved all the media hype surrounding him. He was the UFC and he made a ton of money for himself and resulted in the top-ranked UFC pay-per-views of all time. He could fight anyone and the people would line up in the millions for the PPV's and the arenas would sell out in minutes for what I consider to be dramatically overpriced tickets. He was a huge money-maker for UFC and this is where a lot of the controversy kicks in.

In no mathematical metric should McGregor even be considered for a title shot against Charles Oliveira this summer, when it is rumored that he will be capable of returning after his leg break vs Poirier, yet, this is exactly what it is starting to look like may happen.

src

While this is in no way official at this point, a lot of these decisions get made by the court of public opinion and Oliveira himself is putting the word out there that HE wants to face McGregor once Conor is fit which again, is meant to be sometime in the summer of 2022.

Daniel Cormier admitted, probably much to the dismay of Dana White, that the fight could actually end up happening because of the favoritism that is shown towards Conor and let's just think for a second about what this, and all other sports are about. They aren't about the sport, they are about money. Unless it is a youth league team sponsored by the parents of the kids, all professional sports are about making money and at least for now, no one makes more money for the UFC than Conor McGregor.

“It would make so many people upset, but ultimately it comes down to dollars and cents.” - D.C.

Damn right it would, and in my mind it totally delegitimizes the ranking system and begs the question of why even bother with the ranking system if things like this are allowed to happen? Conor, is probably over-ranked in his number 9 position right now and for him to leapfrog everyone and head straight for the belt would be bullshit at its highest point in the sport.

Justin Gaethje is ranked number one in the lightweight division, has won 5 of his last 6 fights with his only loss being to the unbeatable Khabib Nurmagomedov and I don't think that anyone really looks at that as a blemish on anyone's career seeing as how NO ONE has ever beaten Khabib. Gaethje also had what many people, including me, consider to be the best fight of 2020 against Michael Chandler - it very well could be one of the best fights in MMA, ever.

src

Conor McGregor on the other hand, hasn't won a lightweight bout since 2016 and has lost twice in a row to a guy who is ranked 2nd in the lightweight division. Daniel Cormier is probably in hot water with Dana White for making these comments on the record, but he isn't wrong. The fans should be outraged if a title fight is handed to Conor this summer and the fact that the UFC hasn't come out to say that such a match can't possibly happen, is already pretty disgraceful.