Except one thing dramatically modifications, 2024 will come and go with out Conor McGregor combating within the UFC.
Regardless of McGregor expressing his needs to return this 12 months, UFC CEO Dana White has been adamant that “The Infamous” received’t compete in 2024 after a damaged toe cancelled his struggle towards Michael Chandler, which was initially scheduled for UFC 303 in June. All indicators appeared to level towards a December showdown for the long-awaited matchup, however White revealed that whereas he talked to McGregor, “he received’t struggle this 12 months.”
Just lately retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown has lengthy believed that McGregor won’t ever struggle once more, and his opinion was solely strengthened by this newest delay.
“He’s gone,” Brown mentioned of McGregor on The Fighter vs. The Author. “I’ve mentioned it for a very long time now. What number of years have I been saying it? He’s finished. I don’t low cost that there’s an opportunity that he comes again, however the probabilities of him coming again are means decrease than the probabilities of him not combating once more. He’s at, like, a 20-percent likelihood of coming again, I feel.
“He’s doing nice staying within the information, doing nice retaining his identify on the market. We’d all like to see him struggle nonetheless. I’d like to see him struggle Chandler, whoever I’d like to see Conor struggle — if he’s coaching correctly, staying off the varied substances or no matter it’s. Are available in the true Conor. Reside your life all need while you’re 45 and also you’re retired and also you’re completely out. Get pleasure from it then, however for now let’s see all of the fights. Let’s see them. I need to see you struggle.”
There’s a myriad of the explanation why Brown by no means purchased the McGregor comeback after the Irish celebrity suffered a ugly damaged leg in his final UFC look in a loss to Dustin Poirier again in 2021.
Reality be informed, Brown’s opinion on McGregor doesn’t differ that a lot from White, who has lengthy questioned if the previous two-division UFC champ would truly struggle once more someday.
“Conor McGregor — perhaps he’ll struggle once more, perhaps he received’t,” White mentioned on The Jim Rome Present in June. “You by no means know with a number of the guys that get to that degree [of wealth]. You by no means know while you’re going to see them once more.”
Whereas McGregor’s future stays cloudy, Chandler stays caught ready after first signing up for the matchup upon agreeing to function a The Final Fighter coach in early 2023.
From McGregor nonetheless recovering from his harm, to a required six-month ready interval to struggle once more after re-entering the UFC’s anti-doping program, to the damaged toe in July, Chandler has been compelled to the sidelines as his thirty ninth birthday creeps nearer in April 2025.
Assuming the struggle doesn’t get scheduled in 2024, Chandler has missed not less than two years of his profession ready for McGregor, and there’s nonetheless no assure his persistence pays off.
“In my opinion, you solely reside as soon as and this can be a quick window of time in your life that you just get to compete on the highest degree,” Brown mentioned of Chandler’s scenario. “I feel he’s going to look again when he’s 50, 60 years previous and be like, ‘I missed out on a few years there simply ready for a payday.’ I don’t suppose he’s hurting for cash anyhow [but], ‘I waited for this payday and I may have been on the market placing myself on the road.’
“I feel Michael Chandler’s a competitor. I feel he desires to be on the market placing it on the road. I feel he’s going to finish up regretting this sometime.”
Maybe the most important danger for Chandler could be reserving a unique struggle after which probably lacking out on the matchup towards McGregor. He may have finished that a number of instances over by now, however Brown argues even when Chandler fought and misplaced throughout the previous two years, that doesn’t imply he wouldn’t finally get McGregor anyhow.
“I’ve mentioned it one million instances, say he fought 4 instances and people two years and he went 2-2 — Conor nonetheless fights him,” Brown mentioned. “It’s not like Chandler’s an up-and-comer that’s going to be on Battle Nights or the prelims or one thing. He would have needed to lose all of his fights for Conor to say, ‘I’m not combating you.’ Perhaps even then Conor may struggle him. Conor’s going to wish a tune-up struggle coming again. He may see that as a tune-up struggle. I don’t suppose he would have misplaced something by combating nonetheless many instances.
“I get it why he’s ready, I suppose. Perhaps they’re simply stringing him alongside. We don’t know what he’s listening to. We don’t know the voices in his ear, what they’re telling him. Hindsight’s at all times 20/20, proper? It’s straightforward for us to look again and say, ‘You need to have fought all this time,’ however it’s like, OK, we all know in hindsight you need to have fought, however at what level do you place your foot down and say, ‘OK, I’m combating once more.’”
Brown additionally argues that as a result of McGregor has so many questions surrounding him after not less than three years off and a 1-3 résumé in his previous 4 fights, that beating him now isn’t the identical as handing him a loss when he was coming off his legendary “champ-champ” standing 9 years in the past.
In fact, Brown doesn’t fault Chandler for in search of the celebrity and fortune that comes together with a McGregor struggle, however at this level, that’s all he’s after.
“It’s clear the wait is for a payday,” Brown mentioned. “It’s not a legacy factor. It’s not for aggressive nature. I feel Michael Chandler’s most likely going to look again on it and say, ‘I ought to have jumped in there.’ Perhaps he received’t. I can’t learn his thoughts, I don’t know what’s occurring in his life, however I’m guessing he’s most likely strong on cash. It doesn’t actually add as much as me why you’d need to do this.”
