Breaking: Conor McGregor Won’t Return To UFC Without Promoter’s Stake
With the MMA world focused on this weekend’s (Sat., November 4, 2017) UFC 217 from New York City, the hottest topics in the fight game are still when and against whom UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will set foot back into the Octagon.
McGregor teased a title defense against interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson during a recent Q&A in his native Dublin, but also left the door open for a potential trilogy bout with rival Nate Diaz or any number of potential boxing crossover fights.
That left his UFC return uncertain at best, but based on what he revealed during a short Q&A session surrounding the debut of the documentary film about his life, there’s a much bigger topic that has to be hashed out before “The Notorious” fights for the UFC again. According to MMA Junkie’s Chamatkar Sandhu, McGregor revealed he will not fight until he has a promoter’s stake:
McGregor says now that he's also a promoter he's not stepping into the Octagon again unless he has a promoters stake.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) November 1, 2017
That may not come as a surprise to many, as during a down 2017 without him in the actual UFC, it’s clear the promotion needs him, perhaps much more than he needs them. If he does indeed get the promoter’s stake in the company that he very well may deserve, he’d like to get a fight booked in Ireland:
McGregor says before it's all said and done he'd like to get a fight done in Ireland.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) November 1, 2017
Sandhu clarified that the Q&A session was a short one, but the main takeaways were that the UFC was understandably trying to get McGregor back into the octagon before year’s end to bolster a sinking bottom line, and McGregor wouldn’t be playing ball without part ownership of his next fight:
That's it. It was a short Q&A but the main takeaway is the UFC want McGregor back in by the end of the year but CM wants a promoters stake.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) November 1, 2017
So McGregor has reportedly drawn a proverbial line in the sand for new UFC owners Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG), and after they let him take the entirety of 2017 off MMA to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing ring, they most likely aren’t going to be too happy about the position he’s now put them in.
They also don’t seem like people who like to be pushed around, even by the biggest star in MMA.
Should the UFC give in and grant McGregor his promoter’s stake, or is he getting too big for his own good?
