Remember the last time Conor McGregor walked out onto stage and was instantly met with a Tsunami of boos?
Although the UFC superstar isn’t without his detractors, it can be difficult to imagine a scenario where McGregor doesn’t have the support of a room full of fight fans given how far he has stock has risen.
When he headlined the UFC’s first card in New York, then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez probably should have had the backing of the crowd. The Underground King was the local guy, training out of New Jersey and born and raised in the Elephant Graveyard of Kensington, Philadelphia, which is less than a two-hour drive away from Madison Square Garden.
However, there was no doubt about who the crowd were rooting for at the press conferences promoting the historic UFC 205 card. This pattern of McGregor being cheered and Alvarez being jeered continued in the Arena on fight night as McGregor crumbled the granite chin to dust to claim the ‘big boy’ belt.
#MysticMac gives his #UFC205 prediction… #UFCNYC https://t.co/6esaMyRHEa
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 28, 2016
Even after Nate Diaz propelled himself to superstardom by punching McGregor’s dome into that rear-naked choke, McGregor still had the edge in terms of fan support for their highly-anticipated rematch at UFC 202. That’s just the type of guy he is, that’s how much he’s adored.
However, there are certain places McGregor can go to where he will be forced to play the role of the villain, but he needs the right opponent for this to work.
A prize fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov in Russia would do it, and as the UFC 189 World Tour thought us, so would a rematch against Jose Aldo in Brazil.
When the impassioned Rio fight fans tried to drown him under a sea of hostility and wave after wave of ‘Uh Vai Morrer,’ McGregor heroically swam against the rising tide and thrived in the storm. It was absolutely fascinating.
Unfortunately for Aldo, the fight didn’t really live up to the hype, at least from his point of view. One patented Celtic cross landing flush and it was over. After months of enduring psychological torture, he had to walk away from the Octagon knowing that one blemish in almost a decade would haunt him for years.
While McGregor warned Aldo that he was coming for him, he didn’t say he wouldn’t be coming back. Despite repeatedly telling ‘Scarface’ inside the Octagon that they would do it again, the rematch would never come, nor would McGregor ever defend the featherweight title.
At the time, it didn’t seem like the world needed to run a 13-second fight back, but then Aldo bounced back.
At UFC 200, he had one of his greatest performances in years dismantling future Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar over five rounds. Elusive, explosive, calm and composed – he showed everything we knew he had, but failed to prove against McGregor.
Can you really blame him? https://t.co/ii2SMLT0Yy
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 21, 2017
A motivated Aldo fueled by his most costly error is a scary prospect. Who wouldn’t want to see if version 2.0 could put up a better showing against McGregor?
Aldo was asked the inevitable McGregor question during the UFC 212 media call ahead of his title unification bout against interim champion Max Holloway. While he has thrown his toys out of the pram for being denied a chance to exact revenge upon McGregor in the past, he now appears to have accepted that he’s unlikely to ever get the one rematch he really wants.
“I try to see the good in it, the silver lining and everything but, the UFC tried to make this fight happen again, and it didn’t. The guy does not want to fight with me again. It may be the last time that people ask. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore and that’s fine. It happened. It’s in the past.”
McGregor is on the cusp of booking what could end up being the most lucrative fight in combat sports history, a diamond-encrusted panty night with retired pugilist Floyd Mayweather. Regardless of the result, it’s doubtful that he ever returns to try to win back his 145 lb title.
With Aldo fighting Holloway in Brazil this weekend, we can’t help but ask, ‘what could have been?’ Over 45,000 roaring supporters packed into Arena da Baixada to watch Fabricio Werdum take on Stipe Miocic for the heayweight belt at UFC 198.
Imagine how many tickets McGregor vs Aldo II could have sold in a larger Brazilian stadium.
Imagine the atmosphere.
Imagine the fight.
