Remember when the fights that Conor McGregor got into involved a huge fight purse and the adoration of millions of fans around the world? yeah well it isn't like that anymore as we are kind of witnessing the most extreme "fall from grace" in the history of combat sports.
Conor punched someone alright and it appears as though he KO'd them, but unfortunately for McGregor, this is likely to have the opposite of a fight purse attached to it as a would imagine a 6 figure lawsuit is just around the corner.
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It's tough to really pinpoint the exact moment that Conor made a turn to the dark side, I have my own theory on this and think it was when he briefly got a taste of the Hollywood lifestye, appeared to always be high on cocaine, and didn't really seem to be training for fights at all.
His antics since then, especially the ones that involve sexual assault charges, have taken a massive amount of wind out of his sails and a huge chunk out of his earnings. I believe almost everyone has dropped sponsorship of the man, including Proper 12 Whiskey, a company the Conor helped to build and put on the map.
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I don't know how much money that Conor made from this and his many many other sponsors years ago, but it wouldn't be ridiculous to suggest that just like any other major athlete, it was likely more money than he ever made from fighting.
But all the endorsements are gone now and Conor seems to just have become content with the fact that he isn't a fighter anymore and while I am sure that UFC and many other promotions would be foaming at the mouth to get him back into fighting, I can kind of understand why it may actually be a good idea for him to not do so. He still has most of his fighting legacy intact but if he were to come back and get worked over, that would be basically all he has left.... well, that and hundreds of millions of dollars that if not spent in a wildly stupid manner, will last him easily several lifetimes.
Well you probably remember the time where Conor decided that it would be a good idea to jack an old man in the chin who refused a drink of Proper 12 one day and his PR team was able to sweep that one under the rug somehow.. but here is a reminder in case you forgot.
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You can't really make heads or tails of anything in that CCTV camera screen-grab so here is the age-restricted link to the video if you want to see it
The funny thing about it was that the elderly man barely even reacted to being punched in the face by one of the GOAT's of MMA.
Conor has been getting into trouble a lot with his Tweets and the media mostly made a mockery of his claims that he is going to run for President of Ireland - and I think rightfully so.
Well this recent run-in with someone in Ibiza resulted in Conor getting special treatment from the owners because they kicked the other guy out of the club, not Conor, even though the other guy never threw a punch.
I would imagine that McGregor is harassed on a regular basis but he also has a team of security with him everywhere that he goes so honestly, he shouldn't be throwing hands with people in public because they are likely hoping that he'll smack them so that they can sue him. Conor has a ton of legal-issues that have been settled out of court for big payouts and even though he is really wealthy, we gotta kind of look at this from a "Mike Tyson" point of view and wonder, with no new money coming in could Conor be slowly but surely burning through hundreds of millions? Mike proved that it can, in fact, be done.
One thing I have also noticed about Conor in pictures that I see of him recently is that his face looks larger and this is sometimes a sign of someone that is gaining too much fat and isn't something that is terribly useful in the world of MMA.
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It was estimated by some "experts" that Conor was as much as 40 lbs overweight leading up to the Michael Chandler fight and this was one of many reasons why that fight never came to fruition - well, that and a seriously injured pinky-toe.
Is it tragic to see this happen to what was the face of MMA around the world for years? I mean I guess so. But nobody is forcing the guy to party like this and there are a load of interviews that suggest the guy is always on cocaine.
Joe Rogan has said multiple times on his podcast that he doesn't believe Conor will ever fight again and if that is the case, what is next for the "Notorious One?" Can he repair his public-image? I think the first step would probably be to end up in the news for something other than assault of some sort. Don't you?
What can the guy do moving forward? Anyone have any ideas?