Brash McGregor makes quick splash in UFC
LAS VEGAS -- It's not hard to get UFC President Dana White excited when talking about the fighters on his roster, but his enthusiasm reaches a different level with Conor McGregor.
"I don't know if there's ever been a fighter we've had that has what this kid has," White tells Paste BN Sports.
Even UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, who generally takes a more measured approach, can't mask his enthusiasm for the Irish featherweight, who headlines his first UFC event Sunday.
"I hate even saying this, but with his gift of gab and his athletic ability and fighting ability, it's almost like the Irish Muhammad Ali in a way," Fertitta says. "To compare anybody to Ali is kind of stupid because of all the other great things that were associated with him from a social movement and everything. But Conor has that sparkle, that thing to him.
"Wherever he goes – whether we put him on TV, whether he's doing an interview, whether he's around a group of people – he just is the center of attention. He's got that special quality. For a guy that's fought in the UFC four times to have the interest of GQ Magazine, Men's Health, ESPN? He's got it."
Just two years ago, neither White nor Fertitta had even heard of McGregor, 26, a Dublin native who was on his way to a plumbing career before he became a prizefighter. But in April 2013, when White was honored by Dublin's Trinity College, Irish fight fans earned McGregor his call to the UFC.
"I'm out one night at Temple Bar with a ton of fans, and everybody was saying, 'Conor McGregor, Conor McGregor, Conor McGregor,'" White says. "I thought he was a heavyweight for some reason, the way everyone was talking about him. So I come back here, and I ask (UFC matchmakers) Joe Silva and Sean Shelby, 'Who the hell is Conor McGregor? That's all I hear out there.' Then I said, 'Sign this kid.'
"Once they started negotiating with him and we were close to getting a deal signed, I flew him out here to Las Vegas, and we went to dinner. Afterward, I called Lorenzo up, and I said, 'Lorenzo, I don't know if this kid can fight, but if he can fight just a little, this kid is going to be huge.'"
Turns out McGregor can fight. In four UFC bouts, he's picked up three first-round finishes. The one that went the distance was a hard-fought victory over gritty Max Holloway. McGregor blew out his ACL early in the fight but continued until the final bell.
"I had never met the kid," Fertitta recalls. "Conor came up and was apologizing to me for not stopping Max."
Despite four UFC appearances, McGregor was the second-most popular athlete on MMAjunkie, a Paste BN Sports property that covers MMA, in 2014. His showmanship and skills have proven a perfect mix.
"What he has is unbelievable confidence in himself, and when he sits in a room with you, you start to believe everything he's saying, too," White says. "He is also so good at stirring up the hate with the other fighters."
On Sunday McGregor (16-2 mixed martial arts, 4-0 UFC) looks to establish himself as one of the UFC's biggest stars as he takes on Dennis Siver (22-9, 11-6) in the headlining bout of UFC Fight Night at Boston's TD Garden (Fox Sports 1, 7 p.m. ET).
The UFC's marketing efforts for the event have focused almost solely on McGregor, but the strategy seems to have worked. White and Fertitta are expecting a sellout and say 10-12% of the tickets were sold to Irish fans who will travel to the U.S. for the fight. "Mickey Rourke has been blowing me up about this fight," White says. "Micky Ward is coming. All the Irish guys are coming out. It's big.
"When you look at the hubs of Chicago and New York and Philadelphia, the Irish movement with a Conor McGregor can be as big and powerful as the Hispanic movement was with Oscar De La Hoya back in the day. It hasn't really happened yet, but the Irish population in the U.S. and the U.K. and all over the world is pretty unbelievable."
If victorious, McGregor's been promised a shot at featherweight champ Jose Aldo, who will be cageside Sunday. That matchup could potentially fill a stadium in Aldo's native Brazil or McGregor's Ireland, the UFC execs say. Both White and Fertitta believe Aldo vs. McGregor is the biggest fight the UFC can make this year, in any division.
"Conor wins this fight, he could become a household name," Fertitta says. "He's going to be that big, and this is the beginning of it. We truly believe it."