Chael Sonnen might have been the inspiration for Conor taking on the "bad boy" persona that he did take. Conor was a lot more successful with the schtick, but Chael was likely the first person to realize that microphone skills are likely more important than your actual ability to compete in the octagon.
Chael famously ended up getting fights that at least from a win/loss perspective, he didn't deserve back 10 years ago or so and he made money way above his pay-grade because of this. Chael made a good performance of his undeserved fights, especially against then unstoppable champion Anderson Silva, but I think what he was really trying to accomplish was to stay in the limelight and set up a career for himself after his fighting days are over.
Well, he was successful in that endeavor because now he makes millions with a podcast and as an interviewer and commentary provider with the UFC
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Recently, Chael was a guest on a podcast by one of the people in MMA that I like the least, Ariel Helwani and of course, the topic of Conor McGregor came up as was almost certainly planned before the show even started.
Chael, whether he wants to admit it or not, was the first person to ever turn MMA/UFC into a game of who can cut the best promo like they do in WWE wrestling, and your actual abilities in the ring take second place to that. It's an effective strategy for sure because look at "The Rock." He wasn't a very entertaining wrestler but the persona that he made of the Rock was and is one of the most famous of all time.
Chael, if he was being honest, would probably admit that he knew that he had to be decent, but his ability to use a microphone was far more important than him actually being the best when it came to fighting. With 31 wins (impressive!) and 17 losses (ouch), he isn't exactly getting into the Hall of Fame because of being an unstoppable force in the sport, but he will forever be remembered for how he made the crowd laugh and how he became so popular because of his ability to talk, even if he lost a third of his fights and lost ALL of the fights that he ran his mouth for so much in order to get against Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.
I don't think that any serious fight fan is going to suggest that Chael earned those fights but at the end of the day his mouth and his persona made the company a ton of money, much more than if they had put the 2 best actual fighters out there.
Conor on the other hand, took Chael's formula and one-upped it. Not only did he have amazing microphone skills that made the crowd laugh and ooh and ahh, but he also genuinely was the best in the world at what he did at the time.
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When he KO'd a guy who had been dominant in the weight class for 10 years in just 13 seconds, there was no denying that this guy was the real deal and he could command any fight that he wanted. He decided to step up a weight class and fight for the belt in that division despite never having fought in that division. This would not be offered to anyone else but Dana White knew that it would make millions. Conor was give the fight and he actually won that one too. There was no denying this guy's absolute dominance of the sport.
But then things started to go horribly awry. It all began around the time that UFC allowed the man to go and do an exhibition boxing match against Floyd Mayweather and Conor started training exclusively in boxing. I mean, why wouldn't someone take that opportunity? He was going to get paid 10-20 times what he gets paid for a single fight in MMA so well, it would be foolish not to. He lost with grace but he was never the same in the Octagon after that.
Other than his rather staged victory over "stepping stone" opponent Cowboy Cerrone, he hasn't really won anything and no, I do not consider his decision victory over Nate Diaz genuine, I think that that was pre-planned and awarded to "Notorious" because the UFC wanted a trilogy.
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Conor has been the golden child of the UFC for a while now but some things have happened recently that have kind of sealed his fate as not being part of the UFC for a long time or perhaps ever.
Most people would probably look at his civil-court conviction and the fact that another case of the same nature has been filed against him in Florida and think that this is the reason why he wont fight again but if you think that, you are horribly misguided. UFC and Dana White, for the most part, do not take into consideration whether or not their fighters are fine, upstanding citizens, only if they perform and do not violate the rules of the UFC and honestly, that's the way I think it should be. What you do outside of the organization you work for, especially if it is fighting, shouldn't factor in to whether or not you get to fight for that organization and Chael backed that same sentiment up in his interview with stupid Ariel.
"Historically speaking, whatever is going on with the criminal courts all the way down to if you're dismissed or you got a trial coming up, whatever it is, the organization will recognize that's between you and the courts,"
It IS and should be between you and the courts. It doesn't have shit to do with the UFC.
But the real reason why Conor is unlikely to fight with UFC ever again is because of his attitude of being able to do whatever he wants to the organization as though he feels like they work for him and not the other way around.
It was at UFC 303 where Conor was meant to be fighting against Michael Chandler for a fight that had been prepared for a year before that. Hell, UFC made an entire season of "The Ultimate Fighter" to garner interest in the two host coaches to eventually fight one another in the octagon.
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When we got close to the fight date a press conference/ promotional event was being held in Ireland and Conor, at the 11th hour, backed out of doing the event. Dozens of UFC personnel were there including the big boss Dana White. Hundreds of people had been involved in setting this thing up and all the tickets were sold for a near record-breaking "door price" for the event at $25 million and it was nearly sold out. It would have sold out and millions of PPV's had already been sold as well.
While nobody will actually tell what the real reason is, Conor claimed online that he had "broken his toe" and provided simply a picture of a foot that looked discolored.
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This is supposed to be one of the toughest guys on the planet yet a toe injury is his justification for backing out of what was meant to be one of the best fights the UFC has ever seen? There was speculation that his toe wasn't in fact broken, and some speculation that the picture he posted on Twitter wasn't even his own foot.
No matter what the real situation was here, the main problem is that he blew off Dana White and when you do that, you are going to have a difficult time getting back in. Conor is the wealthiest UFC / MMA fighter of all time, but he doesn't have the sort of say in the industry that Dana does. Dana makes all the calls, all of them, and if you do this guy wrong, you aren't going to fight anymore.
Chael Sonnen simply stated that this is the real reason why Conor is done and wanted to shed light on that in his interview. He was careful with his words but basically stated that the legal problems that Conor is having doesn't really have any impact on his future in UFC. His inability to play by the rules and be a man of his word to the organization that made him a quarter billionaire is the main reason.
At this point, I personally don't really even want to see him fight again.