Don’t freak out but there are ten other fights on Saturday night before Conor McGregor makes an appearance.
In fact, the welterweight title is on the line in one of the most anticipated rematches in recent memory when Robbie Lawler looks to defend his 170lb crown against Rory MacDonald but you’d be forgiven for forgetting this little matter, given the amount of hype surrounding the interim title fight between Chad Mendes and The Notorious.
Lawler v MacDonald II is the opening act for McGregor’s third consecutive main event but I would argue that this should be the other way around.
I was quite content with the fact that the title fight of a lighter weight class would take the main event slot over the championship decider in a heavier weight division, a rarity in the history of the UFC, when it was McGregor v Jose Aldo.
I was also relatively OK with the fact that McGregor received 90% of the UFC’s promotional push, spending power and attention in the build-up to the event because he’s raking in the money for them in return.
But now that The Notorious is fighting for an interim title and is still receiving higher billing while veterans like Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald are going essentially unnoticed, I’m left a little bit disappointed.
Sure you can understand the fact that the UFC are investing in the future by giving their backing to an up-and-coming and highly publicised fighter in Conor McGregor but they could be in danger of burning bridges with a massive contingent of athletes on their roster who could think “he’s had five fights in the UFC and he’s literally being paid ten times the amount I am.”
Robbie Lawler is one of the true feel good stories of the sport and has been around years before the likes of McGregor or Mendes even thought about wrapping their hands for professional fighting. Ruthless has been on a tear since his 2013 return to the UFC, going 6-1 and claiming the welterweight title along the way.
Rory MacDonald was once touted as the guy to take the baton from the greatest 170 lber to ever live in Georges St-Pierre and between 2011 and 2013, Ares took out some of the sport’s toughest fighters with five successive wins including career-defining victories over the likes of BJ Penn and Jake Ellenberger.
So we literally are looking at two of the best fighters in the world. But yet they get no love on international fight week.
The reason why is simple but it doesn’t make it any more reassuring… They are quiet.
Lawler and MacDonald would be delighted if they never had to fulfill a media obligation for the rest of their careers as they epitomise the philosophy of “doing the talking in the cage.”
But if a lack of verbosity is enough to earn you pretty much zero recognition for what is one of the most exciting welterweight title fights in history, then it’s a pretty damning sign for the future.
The UFC have nailed their colours to the McGregor mast which is more than a little bit understandable given the money that he is generating for them but there is a worrying sense that the promotion is heaping all of their eggs in a basket whose sturdiness hasn’t yet been fully examined.
All it takes is one Mendes overhand right to completely derail the McGregor hype train and then the millions that the UFC could have spent promoting a title fight in almost every other weight division over the next six months will have been for nought.
I’m not saying that McGregor doesn’t deserve the plaudits and promotion he’s getting, he most certainly does because of the talent that he possesses. But what I am arguing is that it shouldn’t come at the expense of other fighters who thoroughly deserve the same amount of respect.
The right thing to have done for the standing of the sport would have been to make the interim featherweight title fight the co-main event because the world championship should hold more importance than any one fighter.
I get that UFC 189 is “the McGregor card” and that thousands of Irish are travelling over but that shouldn’t affect the significance of undisputed titles.
This interim belt is essentially an I.O.U. from the UFC in which they guarantee the winner of McGregor v Mendes a unification shot at Jose Aldo down the line and there is no way that a token piece of gold should take the place of the welterweight title, regardless of who’s fighting.
Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine that Makwan Amirkhani continues doing what he’s doing for the next two years, becomes Finland’s answer to Conor McGregor and is booked in a featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo in 2017, with plenty of Finnish fans travelling to Vegas to see the bout. Then Aldo withdraws from the contest (of course he bloody does) and Frankie Edgar steps in for an interim title fight. Then imagine Amirkhani v Edgar for interim 145lb glory taking precedence over a genuine title fight, regardless of the division. That’s a little crazy, right?
All I’m asking for is the veterans to be respected and for the significance of genuine UFC titles be upheld.
That’s not so much to ask, is it?
