Conor McGregor Warned to Stop Surrounding Himself with ‘Yes Men’ Ahead of UFC Comeback
If Conor McGregor wants to make his 2024 return to the Octagon a success, he needs to stop surrounding himself with a bunch of “yes men.”
That is according to former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping who fully believes that McGregor can return to his glory days, but only if the Irishman separates himself from the apple-polishers on his payroll.
“Conor needs to not surround himself with ‘yes men’ that are on the payroll, he’s got to surround himself with people who are going to dictate when he trains,” Bisping said in an interview with Betway. He’s got to have people around him who are strong enough to say, ‘If you’re not going to do this work then I’m not going to corner you.’ When I talked rubbish to my trainer in sparring once, he shut it down right then and there. He said, ‘If you’re not going to listen then get out.‘
“That’s what you need, a strong character that cares about the win, not just the money. I respect Conor for what he’s doing because he doesn’t need to do this, but I know why he’s doing it. It’s because the feeling of winning and knocking another man out unconscious while the world goes crazy is an incredible feeling.
“Money cannot buy it, nor the respect from the fight community and that’s why he’s doing it. To be the best version of himself he has to surround himself with people who want him to become champion again.”
The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall
Conor McGregor’s meteoric rise up the UFC ranks was a journey unlike any other in combat sports. But as is the case with many athletes who achieve that level of success, McGregor’s performances fell flatter as his bank account grew fatter. After claiming the featherweight and lightweight titles in less than a year, ‘Mystic Mac’ decided to cash in with a boxing match against legendary pugilist Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. McGregor suffered a 10th-round knockout loss and nothing has been the same since.
He returned to the Octagon the following year and has proceeded to lose three of his last four, including back-to-back KOs against lightweight fan favorite Dustin Poirier.
McGregor’s only win in the last seven years came against a past-his-prime Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in 2020.
Nothing has been officially confirmed for McGregor’s quote-unquote “greatest comeback in combat sports history,” but the Irishman insists that he will fight this summer, presumably as part of the UFC’s International Fight Week festivities in Las Vegas.
His expected opponent, Michael Chandler, remains confident that the bout will go down as McGregor stated in a New Year’s Day announcement on social media, but UFC CEO Dana White has remained coy, saying that nothing about McGregor’s return has been finalized.
