Mark Henry is sick and tired of Conor McGregor calling the shots.
UFC president Dana White, when announcing McGregor would get a UFC 200 rematch with Nate Diaz, said the Irishman was “obsessed” with the American Ninja.
That obsession has set in play a series of events that will now see Frankie Edgar fight Jose Aldo for the UFC interim featherweight title. On the same night, reigning champion McGregor fights at 25lbs above that division.
Although UFC 200 will be a must-watch event, many fight fans have bemoaned the fact that McGregor seems to have got his way and called his next fight despite it road-blocking the featherweight division.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Off The Ball, Henry likened McGregor to a spoilt child. He declared:
“Some parents are a bit more lenient. It’s like a five-year-old kid that wants to keep going on a ride at the park.
“Some parents let them go for another ride. Others say ‘Listen son, it’s time to go home’.
“Conor keeps whining and crying and Conor gets his way, no matter how bizarre things might seem.”
He insisted he bears McGregor no ill will but simply wants him to ‘give up the damned belt’ if he is to continuing flitting between divisions in search of MMA immortality. He compared the UFC’s stance on McGregor to a sterner approach taken by the NFL:
“One of their biggest players is [New England Patriots quarter-back] Tom Brady. Tom deflated footballs. The NFL know Tom Brady is the biggest marqueé player they have but they [suspend him] and make the NFL bigger than him.
“That’s because it’s about the sport; it’s about things being right. Defending your belt or defending your championship, the Super Bowl.
“If wish the UFC would take the example of the NFL and make themselves, and MMA, more important than Conor.”
As for the Dubliner’s UFC 196 loss to Nate Diaz, Henry’s take was emphatic:
“He got whopped. It wasn’t even a close fight; he got taken out in the second round.
“First, Diaz hurt him standing. Then he sucked him out.
“If there was [an immediate] rematch for Conor, why not for Jose Aldo who has been champion for 10 years? I feel bad for Aldo… I believe he is a true legend in the sport.”
Henry feels Edgar, who was promised ‘whatever he wants’ by Dana White, shot have got first dibs on McGregor before Aldo was lined up to take on the winner. Instead, he says, a disaster has unfolded.
Henry also laughed off the claims of McGregor and John Kavanagh, his coach, that the fight was going the way of The Notorious before Diaz rallied in the second.
“If someone is winning the first 10 minutes of a soccer match but ends up losing 11-2, are you going to tell me that was a close match?
“Diaz killed him 11-2, if not more.”
Henry also likened Irish fans to the hordes of Ricky Hatton supporters that flooded Las Vegas whenever ‘The Hitman’ fought there.
