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Conor McGregor's Recent Behaviour And Unbelievable Wealth Means He 'May Never Fight Again'

Conor McGregor's Recent Behaviour And Unbelievable Wealth Means He 'May Never Fight Again'

"Try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you’ve got $100 million in the bank."

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Conor McGregor has a little bit of everything: he's one of the most famous men in the world, he's got a wife and a kid, $100 million dollars in the bank and enough endorsement deals that ensure that the balance is only likely to keep rising without him doing a great deal.

With everything apparently made, rumours are beginning to circle that the Notorious one might take it easy. Real easy. In fact, so easy that the rumours are swirling that Conor McGregor might never fight again.

There is a veritable smorgasbord of reasons why McGregor might not feature in an Octagon - or a ring - again. Let's break it down from three perspectives: from that of his UFC bosses, that of his potential boxing and that of McGregor himself.

First up, it's the UFC. It's impossible to write about the biggest promotion in MMA without mentioning Dana White, and he's the man who started these big rumours.

Credit: PA

"We were working on a fight for him at the end of the year. And he's just not ready," White said at a press conference. "Listen, Conor might never fight again. The guy's got a fucking hundred million dollars.

"These guys make money and that's it. Fighting is the worst. Try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you've got $100 million in the bank. Money changes everything for a lot of people." Sound logic - if I made that much cash I'd probably not go back to work either, and nobody thumps me in the mush for money.

On top of that, even if McGregor wanted to fight, it's possible that nobody would let him. He invaded the ring at the end of a Bellator fight in Dublin recently and assaulted the referee and a member of staff, certainly the sort of behaviour that should merit some sort of suspension, should McGregor attempt to make a ring return.

Plenty of UFC fighters would like McGregor to put up or shut up. Jose Aldo, defeated by McGregor a year ago, recently called on Dana White to strip Conor of his title for inactivity, saying: "The UFC needs to do what has to be done: you take the belt away or make him defend it. I think everyone is waiting for that."

On the boxing front, McGregor will not struggle for opponents. Simply put, nobody respects him and everyone thinks that they would him beat him, taking a huge payday in the process.

Since the Mayweather fight, the Pretty Boy has claimed not to have trained at all for McGregor and still beat him handily. One shudders at the thought of what might happen if someone actually put the work in.

Credit: PA

Credit: PA

The first off the rank might well be Paulie Malignaggi, the 36-year-old former two-time world champion who has been engaged in a war of words with McGregor ever since he posted videos of them sparring before the Floyd fight. Conor uploaded footage claiming to show him knocking down Paulie in a spar, which Paulie vehemently denies.

He's been insisting that Conor release all 36 minutes of the tape of them sparring and confronted the Irishman publically in August saying as much, resulting in a fracas. Malignaggi has called McGregor 'boxing's pinata', in the sense that one could hit him repeatedly and have money come out, and is confident that he'd beat him.

That brings us to our final reason: Conor himself. He might agree with Dana White and think that, with the cash in the bank, it isn't worth continuing.

Moreover, he's tasted how much money there is to be made in boxing compared to UFC. It is estimated that he made 10 times as much to fight Mayweather as he did from his previous highest-grossing bout, against Eddie Alvarez.

If Conor even remotely agrees with all the boxing experts who think that he would get his backside handed to him by any half decent boxer, then he might well consider his reputation not worth sullying: it's one thing copping a beating from 50-0 Floyd Mayweather, but getting a doing off a retired Paulie Malignaggi or even worse, a nobody, would be embarrassing indeed.

Credit: PA

If he decides to return to his natural habitat in the Octagon, then he'll be met by two men who have been waiting for him to come back. Tony Ferguson is on a ten fight, five-year winning streak and would now in pole position for a shot, while many MMA insiders thought that McGregor was already ducking unbeaten Russian killing machine Khabib Nurmagomedov before his last fight at UFC 205.

Khabib fought on the undercard that night and has not featured since, having been hospitalised in an attempt to make weight for a bout with Ferguson at UFC 209. Both fighters would fancy a crack at Conor and, as submission specialists, are exactly the sort of opponents that he has previously struggled with.

Of course, there are plenty who think that McGregor will come back. UFC commentator Joe Rogan voiced the opinion that he could compete on both fronts on his podcast.

Credit: PA

"I think Tony Ferguson is the right move as far as for the fans. The real smart move would be to fight an MMA fight and then fight a boxing match in a year," said Rogan. "What I would like is Nate [Diaz, whom McGregor lost to previously] comes back and fights somebody and wins, Conor fights someone and wins, Conor fights a boxing match, they have a huge MMA fight after that."

It seems unlikely that McGregor will never, ever fight again, but it is difficult to pick where he might show up next. But as long as we're talking about it, Conor will be happy.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Conor Mcgregor, Nate Diaz, Boxing, mayweather, MMA, Dana White