SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
April - 2016
15
choke, thusly rendering “Mys-
tic Mac’” pre-fight prediction
of an opening stanza knockout
null and void.
Nonetheless, not content with
handing McGregor his first
UFC loss, the Calif., native,
like a thief in the night, pur-
loined his soul as well. The van-
quished soul of the 27-year-old
McGregor was never more evi-
dent than during the post-fight
presser; visibly shaken to the
roots of his Irish foundations.
Caveat! Lost souls, more times
than not, are never found, nev-
er more so than in the strato-
sphere of the mucho macho
fight game. And even if there
is some semblance of recovery,
combatants are never really
the same; lingering self-doubts
encompass their inner psyches
and fester long after.
Tokyo, Japan, 1990, Buster
Douglas lit Mike Tyson up like
a Christmas tree, forever shat-
tering the myth of the once
thought of invincible “Baddest
Man on the Planet.” Follow-
ing that trouncing, the former
undisputed heavyweight box-
ing champ was a shadow of his
former self; soul plundered.
Fast forward a quarter-century,
and Ronda Rousey, the most
dominant female mixed martial
artist of her era met her Wa-
terloo via head kick, courtesy
of “The Preacher’s Daughter”
Holly Holm. Like “Iron” Mike,
“Rowdy’s” soul was stolen that
night Down Under; and down
under it shall remain.
McGregor’s soul now wanders
among the MMA’s underworld
of pillaged souls; souls bereft of
redemption, souls once brilliant
now faded into the obscuring
distance; akin to a shooting
star. Souls relegated to noth-
ingness. Now if he cocks his
ear to the ground, the snigger-
ing whispers abound.
Mark my words; Conor An-
thony McGregor (19-3 MMA,
7-1 UFC) will never scale the
lofty heights of the Ultimate
Fighting Championship sum-
mit again. Furthermore, his
cross-divisional championship
aspirations will be eviscerated
for good.
The projected rematch be-
tween McGregor and Diaz at
UFC 200 (to be contested at
170 pounds again; the Hiber-
nian never learns) wasn’t mere
clishmaclaver; it’s official, it’s
going down, and when it does,
the “Skrap Pack” affiliate will
put the final nail in the Irish-
man’s coffin by any means he
chooses; it’s a wrap.
What next for the SBG Ireland
product? Well, if he decides he
wants to test the shark infested
waters of the 155ers, so be it.
That bunch of killers housed
in “The Green Mile” will wel-
come him with open arms, and
with a promise of a surefire
murderers’ row ass whupping;
though, dos Santos gets dibs
on that.
However, that seems unlikely,
as the dead eyes of the light-
weight division will be the de-
ciding factor; he’ll stay well
away. His only other option is
to descend back down to his
original weight class of 145 lbs.
and defend his coveted strap.
The two guys in waiting; Jose
Aldo and Frankie Edgar will vie
for the interim belt on the same
night he dukes it out with Diaz.
The victor in that rematch gets
featherweight gold first refus-
al. On the one hand is “Scar-
face,” the man he wrested the
title from, the same man, who
now voraciously chomps at the
bit for violent retribution. Con-
versely, Edgar is on a search
and destroy mission, and be-
lieves he has “The Answer”
to all of McGregor’s attributes
and flaws.
Needless to say, whoever of
the two “Notorious” locks
horns with, it doesn’t matter,
the ending he will not like; vae
victis.
For McGregor, and those be-
fore him, there’s no respite for
the stolen souls of MMA.
