As Conor McGregor sat on the canvas against the cage after breaking his leg at the end of the first round in Saturday's UFC 264 trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier, emotions ran wild for everyone inside the arena or those watching from afar. First, you had the Poirier contingent excited their guy won what had been billed as the finale to the feud. Then you had the McGregor fans who were saddened at seeing their guy on the canvas with a splint being put on the lower part of his leg and his future in serious doubt. However, seeing Poirier and his family celebrating was a warm sight as the Louisiana native is one of the genuine good guys in sports, and those are the athletes you should root for.
But watching doctors surround McGregor was sad in a way. There lied combat sports' biggest star and one of the marquee names worldwide with his leg broken and now a loser in three of his last four fights inside the Octagon. Yet, looking at McGregor's face, all you could see was anger. Upset at what had just occurred and thinking that his world is crumbling right before him, McGregor made despicable comments towards Poirier's wife, Jolie. Comments should never be made about anyone's spouse. People will say yes, it's fight promotion and anything goes. There are different ways to build up a fight. Bringing up family and religion isn't the route to go. Hopefully, McGregor apologizes to Jolie Poirier because she had nothing to do with UFC 264 except being her husband's biggest supporter.
“Your wife is in me (direct messages),” McGregor shouted at Poirier in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “Hey baby, hit me back, I’ll chat to you later on. I’ll be at me afterparty at the Wynn nightclub. You’re looking mint, you little …”
The criticism of McGregor, the fighter, has come down hard and fierce. Calls have been made that he's done, a shell of what catapulted him to the top, and maybe it's time to hang them up and go off to handle his successful business ventures. But, for those doubting him, there's plenty left in the gas tank of Conor McGregor.
Like stated above, McGregor is 1-3 in his last four UFC fights (1-4 if you count his boxing "match" against Floyd Mayweather Jr.) and 3-4 in his previous seven overall since his majority decision win in the rematch versus Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
On Sunday, McGregor underwent successful surgery to repair his lower tibia and fibula. Typically, those injuries take around one year to get to 100 percent. If McGregor is intelligent and listens to his team, he'll take those 12 months, get better and reinvent himself to what made the fighter who transcended the UFC. Rewatching UFC 264, it was a tale of two rounds. McGregor controlled the opening half of the round and Poirier the second half. Poirier's dominance in the final two-and-half minutes was more impressive than McGregor's to win the round 10-9 and not a 10-8 as two of the three judges had it scored.
If the grotesque injury doesn't happen, Poirier had the momentum going into the second round. The narrative has been that McGregor would have been stopped either in that round or later on in the fight. However, McGregor's head coach John Kavanaugh felt that despite Poirier winning the round, his fighter was in good shape and heading towards a finish of his own.
“It was going fantastic,” Kavanagh said during an Instagram Q&A with Laura Sanko for Wimp 2 Warrior. “I thought he looked really, really good in there. … I wasn’t concerned at all. I was actually really, really happy. … At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark (of Round 1), everything is gravy. I thought energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds, and I thought Round 2 we were well on track to getting a finish there or keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight.
“Credit to Dustin. He won. It’s an unfulfilling end to the night. … It doesn’t feel properly finished. (There was no) closure.”
Kavanaugh is right. Even though Poirier is the winner in the record books, there was no closure as the finish wasn't definitive. Anything can happen in a fight, and there's no telling if McGregor would have come back or Poirier would have closed the show.
When McGregor comes back, plenty of options are on the table for him. But to get his footing and confidence back under him, he shouldn't be booked for a fourth Poirier clash immediately upon his return.
A fight with former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos makes the most sense under the gates. They were supposed to face off at UFC 196 for the 155-pound title, but dos Anjos had to pull out due to an injury. McGregor and dos Anjos have teased bouts in the past to no avail. But they got into a brief skirmish after the ceremonial weigh-in on Friday.
dos Anjos has credibility as a former titlist but is on the downside of his career, as he's lost two of his last three and is 2-3 in his last five overall. The heat is there between the two, and most importantly, it would be McGregor's grand return from a career-threatening injury. People love a comeback story, especially someone with the stature of McGregor, and it would draw a lot of money for "The Notorious", dos Anjos and the UFC. It's a fight McGregor should win and would get the ball rolling.
A dos Anjos win would then line McGregor up to finally settle the score with Nate Diaz in a trilogy bout. Diaz will always be there, but to rebuild McGregor, this is the apparent fight to make. McGregor-Diaz 3 can be the first fight in the former's return and dos Anjos in the second fight. It doesn't matter. Both would be record-setting events and contests that McGregor can win, rework his skills, and gain his confidence so he can embark on a fourth Poirier battle or whoever the lightweight champion will be at that point in time.
The UFC will roll on like it always does. But without question, it is always better when Conor McGregor is heavily involved. He sells tickets and pay-per-views like no other.
The world is McGregor's oyster. Does he want to put in the work necessary to rebuild?
Is McGregor content and sees things like the Marvin Hagler line of, "It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 a.m. when you’ve been sleeping in silk pajamas?" Or will McGregor dig deep into his soul and go back to the grind of what brought him to this point?
There's plenty of gas left in the soon-to-be 33-year-old. At the end of the day, though, it's going to be up to him on how much effort he wants to put into rebuilding himself.
Only time will tell, and we will wait in anticipation.