Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor: UFC should start Looking beyond Conor

CONOR MCGREGOR IS THE BIGGEST DRAW THAT UFC has on their roster, period.

With the Floyd Mayweather fight around the corner, there are no apparent arguments against this statement.

The Biggest Draw of UFC

But the mainstream attention and all the media hype surrounding McGregor is not the only thing that backs this up. His place on top of the UFC food chain is backed by raw stats.

Out of the five highest selling UFC pay-per-views, four belong to the Irish sensation with his second dance with Nate Diaz at UFC 202 being the highest selling pay-per-view in the company’s history. It earned 1.65 million buys, just .5 ahead of the first fight between Conor and Nate.

 All four of Conor’s entries in this list are above the one million buys mark as well, something that not many MMA fighters can boast about.

It’s all good till this part. Conor is a big draw for UFC and he will be an even bigger draw once he is done with Floyd Mayweather. But the real question is: For how long?

The potential future of Conor McGregor

August 26, 2017, will mark the biggest payday in Conor’s career. He will earn more than a hundred million from one fight. This is a big leap from the money that he used to get in UFC.

To be a bit more precise, it’s almost equivalent to the money he will get if he fights more than 25 MMA fights. Boxing does seem like a better option for Conor if he is indeed motivated by money.

Obviously, UFC cannot afford to pay or generate such revenue to Conor for one fight. So this raises the question once again: How long will Conor fight in the UFC after the Mayweather fight?

There are some things that will attract Conor back into UFC. The third fight with Nate Diaz, A fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov in Russia, or he might even pursue a third championship.

All these are prospects that would excite Conor. It’s not the money that will attract him but the possibility of doing something that no one has done or the fact that he can elevate his legacy further.

If we take away these three possibilities, there isn’t much UFC can offer to Conor.

The lack of immediate successors

Unfortunately for UFC, There aren’t many names that could fill the void that Conor might leave.  

Ronda Rousey seems to be in no mood to return to MMA. Brock Lesnar, who was a legitimate draw is suspended and is into his forties. Jon Jones is struggling with USADA.  The likes of GSP and Anderson Silva are ageing as well.

While names like Dominick Cruz, Demetrious Johnson, Daniel Cormier, and Max Holloway appeal to the hardcore MMA fan base, they cannot be the draw that Conor is. A simple comparison of the Google trends of Demetrious Johnson (who many consider being the GOAT) and Conor McGregor is enough to back this up.

So what happens in UFC when their biggest draw decides to move on?

It’s a question that UFC should start asking themselves at the earliest. And it’s high time that they found a solution. It’s high t the me that they gave the limelight to some upcoming talent that can step up and steal the show.

What Conor is doing now will only serve as a foundation for the UFC. They will get the mainstream attention, they will attract new eyeballs, but it’s only the start. And Conor might not stick around to carry UFC on his shoulders, it’s up to Dana White and WME-IMG to build a castle on the foundation that Conor sets on August 26.

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