Conor McGregor’s ascension to the top of the UFC pile has not been without its setbacks.
Most notable, from a career point of view, was his stand-off with Dana White surrounding the promotion of his rematch with Nate Diaz, which saw the fight removed from the historic UFC 200 bill.
The Dubliner’s refusal to leave a training camp in Iceland to attend a press conference in Las Vegas resulted in him being bumped by Dana White, provoking McGregor’s infamous ‘retirement’ tweet.
Perhaps it was fantastic negotiation skills and brinkmanship or, perhaps as Ronda Rousey suggests in an interview with ESPN, McGregor was struggling to cope with all the demands placed on one of the UFC’s most marketable commodities.
Rousey is arguably the only star to rival McGregor in the promotion and when she met The Notorious before his eventual defeat of Diaz at UFC 202 she imparted a little piece of advice.
“Instead of trying to handle everything at once, while it’s coming at you, just trying to reach an agreement beforehand,” she said.
It would seem McGregor has taken this advice on board as, straight after winning the lightweight title at UFC 205, he announced he was going to take a break from the promotion as his girlfriend gives birth to their first child and he tries his hand at acting.
He is no longer interested in taking on the world, White and the rest all at once, he is going to do it at his own pace.
That win over Eddie Alvarez was significant for Rousey too as McGregor’s agreement to headline the pivotal New York card meant that she did not have to. Her pal Dana White asked her to do so, but she felt she needed more time to recover from knee surgery.
She returns to the Octagon on December 30th at UFC 207, when she will attempt to win back her bantamweight belt against Amanda Nunes.
“Conor gave me the chance to rest, he took the weight off my shoulders, and I’m grateful,” she told ESPN.
