The general consensus was that there was only one winner from Conor McGregor’s cage invasion at Bellator Dublin.
While Conor McGregor’s ‘coolness’ may have increased in the eyes of casual fans for leaping into the cage, shoving Marc Goddard and striking a Bellator employee, his reputation took a serious knock to hardcore fans and MMA personalities.
His apology hasn’t been well-received either with UFC commentator Dan Hardy going as far to describe it as a ‘shit sandwich’. Likewise, John Kavanagh’s comments on the situation only drew more criticism.
The only party involved who was thought to come out of Friday night’s event smiling was Bellator. The UFC’s main rivals managed to create some buzz for their show using the biggest superstar in the sport, who just happens to be signed to the competition.
Hell, they even thanked McGregor in their initial tweet of the footage.
Madness in Dublin thanks to @TheNotoriousMMA!!! DO NOT miss #Bellator187 TONIGHT on @spike 9/8c pic.twitter.com/BGWcOBDvFb
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 10, 2017
Since Bellator 187 was in Dublin and not the states, it was aired on tape delay. This meant that fans couldn’t watch the event live on television and instead had to wait a little while to see it on the box.
This gave the promotion a decent amount of time to promote the show using their wonderful promo cut by McGregor and, while the card did receive a ratings boost, it wasn’t anything major.
According to Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting, the event drew 575,000 viewers, meaning it was their best performing Bellator Friday night show since Rory McDonald vs. Paul Daley in May. It was a decent return, but considering how huge that news story was, they may be a little disappointed.
If Bellator’s big wigs had any brains they’d be trying to get Charlie Ward as many fights that McGregor is able to attend as possible. The potential for some McGregor-induced chaos is sure to get more folks to tune in.
