October - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
32
And do we blame him for wanting to re-
gain what was promised — a shot to be
the first man to hold titles in two divi-
sions at once? In reality, were dos Anjos
never injured, we wouldn’t be here, and
that’s no fault of McGregor.
Now, for the Irish star, all this means a
shot at Eddie Alvarez, who knocked out
dos Anjos to claim the lightweight title
while McGregor was busy dealing with
Diaz. For Alvarez, this is the biggest mo-
ment of his career. He’s been through
some wars with Michael Chandler, but
one thing Conor McGregor was right
about at the UFC 205 press conference
Tuesday was that in the UFC, he hasn’t
looked all that great. A loss to Donald
Cerrone, two straight split decisions over
Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis —
really, Alvarez’s only shining moment in
the UFC was his defeat of dos Anjos. Four
fights, one highlight reel performance.
McGregor may just make a star out of
him, just as he pushed Nate Diaz to the
next level. And does one fight really hold
up lightweight? No, not when the next
best contender, Nurmagomedov, has
been injured the better part of two years.
This all means that really, we’re no fur-
ther behind than we are a year ago. With
Frankie Edgar having lost a shot at the
interim featherweight title to Aldo, really
the biggest victim is Holloway, who can’t
seem to buy a title shot with nine straight
wins. Aldo, meanwhile, has asked for his
release and threatened to retire. In this
case, as good as Aldo is, he may have
overestimated his position in the promo-
tion. If this is a bargaining tactic, it fails.
Threatening to quit isn’t going to change
what the UFC has already approved: Mc-
Gregor keeping one belt while trying for
a second.
For the Notorious one, well, the allure is
simple: be the first man to hold two belts
in the UFC simultaneously. It doesn’t
matter if he drops one belt a week later,
though there’s a good chance he’ll fight
any request to do that. Point is, his name
will be in this history books. More than
anything, that’s what Conor McGregor
is aiming for: to leave his mark on the
sport.
Yet win or lose against Alvarez, it’s clear
he has already done that. For the first
time in the UFC’s history, a fighter is
dictating events, no the promotion. It’s
something combat sports fans have be-
come used to in boxing over the years,
but that is new territory in MMA.
In short: Conor McGregor won, and the
game has changed.
