Conor McGregor willing to take risks others won't
— -- LAS VEGAS -- A crowded theater waited approximately 90 minutes on Wednesday for one man and one man only: Conor McGregor.
The UFC's 27-year-old featherweight champion rarely (OK, never) shows up to anything on time these days, and the scene inside the UFC 196 open workout grew downright comical at times as hundreds of people waited patiently for the Irish star to arrive.
Fans chanted occasionally, but with no way of knowing whether McGregor was even in the building to hear them, it was a halfhearted effort. Reporters, photographers and videographers stared blankly into their phones. McGregor's coach, who arrived before him, entertained himself backstage by dressing up as a ninja.
When McGregor did arrive, he put on one heck of an open workout. He stared out over the fans while simultaneously working the pads. He flipped, spun and wheeled around the mat. He put on a show, and he was there. Regardless of how late the man is, McGregor always shows up. That in itself has become worth something.
"A lot of these other champions, they get an opportunity, they leave the whole event," McGregor said. "They leave fans who have been queuing months to get tickets. They just pull off the card and don't give a s---. So, I don't care. My opponent pulls out, get me a replacement and I'll step in.
"I could sit and rest. I have title shots lined up. I have money. I could sit and chill, but I appreciate the fans, and I show up and compete for the fans."
McGregor (19-2) will fight Nate Diaz on Saturday at UFC 196 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena. Up until last week, he was supposed to face lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. It would have been a shot at history, as no fighter has held UFC titles in multiple weight classes simultaneously. Dos Anjos, however, withdrew with a broken foot. Diaz is not a champion, so McGregor cannot win a title Saturday.
The Diaz fight will take place at 170 pounds -- two weight classes above the featherweight division McGregor competed in less than three months ago at UFC 194, when he knocked out long-reigning champion Jose Aldo to claim his 145-pound title.
As McGregor told his fans Wednesday, he could have removed himself from the card altogether. History suggests that plenty of other champions would have done just that (such as Jon Jones, who in 2012 chose to decline a title defense against Chael Sonnen after Dan Henderson withdrew, causing UFC 151 to be canceled). The UFC would have rebooked McGregor's fight against dos Anjos at UFC 200 on July 9. Fighting Diaz at 170 pounds this weekend is a risk, and fans love McGregor for taking it.
"It's probably my job to look at all the outcomes, positive or negative," said John Kavanagh, McGregor's coach. "It's Conor's job to fight. To be honest, rather than look at what could go wrong, we choose to look at what could go right. Yeah, we didn't get history with two belts, but tell me when a featherweight champion has ever agreed to move up to welterweight on short notice? You can't help but be excited by that."
Not everyone sees McGregor's flexibility as risky behavior. Greg Jackson, one of the finest coaches in the history of the sport, respectfully said he doesn't see McGregor's last-minute decisions to fight Diaz or Chad Mendes (when Aldo withdrew from UFC 189 this past July) as being all that dangerous. Actually, they're advantageous.
"Fighting Chad Mendes, who is a grinder, on a few weeks' camp was a brilliant maneuver," Jackson said. "Going up to 170 and fighting outside his weight class is pretty risk-free. He literally has nothing to lose against Diaz. It doesn't matter at all if he loses -- but if he wins, he can say, 'I'm in the title hunt at 170.'"
Jackson has a point, but at the same time, any UFC champion, especially one who has achieved rare superstardom, has plenty to lose in every fight.
But McGregor doesn't think in those terms. When he found out Diaz was negotiating which weight the fight would take place at, McGregor offered 170 -- so Diaz could be "comfortable," McGregor said. Even Kavanagh, who didn't arrive from Dublin until after the bout was agreed to, laughed at that and admitted he would have forced Diaz to cut a few pounds.
"That's just the wave we're on right now," Kavanagh said. "I do genuinely believe he can't be touched right now. Three weight classes -- 145, 155 and 170 -- are all within his reach. Winning a welterweight title is deadly serious. When he trains, I don't divide the gym by weight classes. I've seen him go with 205-pound guys, and he's absolutely fine."
McGregor hasn't clearly said what's next if he wins on Saturday. A rebooking against dos Anjos? A fight against welterweight champion Robbie Lawler? A trip back to 145 to defend his title against Frankie Edgar or Aldo?
The answer figures to be whichever feels biggest. McGregor did say a title fight against Lawler is "probably the leading option." And although he doesn't have a bad thing to say about Lawler, he added, "If we fought, I would beat Robbie."
What McGregor seems to want most, however, is himself. An opponent who doesn't beg for a fight against him but forces one -- and is then able to get through a training camp and actually make it to the fight. He swears he wants to fight longer than 13 seconds, which is how long it took him to beat Aldo in December.
He refuses to rule out even a future move to 185 pounds. Any sensible observer of the fight game would identify that as ridiculous, but McGregor is going to push the envelope until it pushes back. And that's why he's the biggest star in the sport.
"When have I ever waited?" McGregor asked. "I've never waited once. Even now, the title shot is gone, and did I wait? No. That's what champions do. That's why people care. I'm a hungry m-----f----- who does not care who is in his way."
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