Once again, Brian Stann has formulated an articulate, well-thought out theory on a Conor McGregor news story.
The former WEC champion, ex-Marine and current UFC colour commentator was bang on the money with his theory on why the Notorious wasn’t fighting Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, and his opinion of Conor McGregor’s supposed retirement seems to be perfectly plausible as well.
Stann told SiriusXM RUSH channel 93 that he belives McGregor’s big Twitter announcement is just another clever marketing ploy.
“Do I believe he’s retiring? Absolutely not. We give Conor a lot of credit for being intelligent and I agree with all that credit. He is a very bright guy. He understands combat sports. He understands how to keep his name, his brand, as the main story.”
“You’ve got a lot of other things going on in MMA. You’ve got lots of guys putting forth great performances and Conor’s going to do the things necessary to keep his name in the headlines. to keep people talking about him, to sell his product, to move his business ‘Conor McGregor’ forward. I think it’s smart. I think what he’s doing is really intelligent.”
Some people have argued that the biggest star in the promotion announcing that he’s leaving the sport just before he was scheduled to headline a landmark event is bad news for the UFC. However, Stann does not see it that way. In fact, he went as far to say that the Zuffa big wigs would be delighted with McGregor’s tweet gathering such momentum online.
“I’ve seen a lot of comments on Twitter ‘Well, the UFC is probably going crazy today. It’s a dumpster fire over at Zuffa headquarters.’ Well, I’m not on the inside track every single day, but I know enough and have a good enough relationship with Joe Silva, Sean Shelby and some of the executives over there that this is something they deal with every day, guys.”
“Conor’s more high profile, he’s got the ability to break the internet, but you’re dealing with fighters, you’re dealing with athletes that are impulsive, that are emotional, that are insensitive, that are aggressive. These things happen and all this did was with whatever product they’re selling with him on it, it’s got them more buys.”
“So if anything, I’d imagine Zuffa headquarters are smiling ear-to-ear becasue of this tweet and how many people are talking about Conor McGregor.”
