Conor McGregor vanquished Jose Aldo and captured the UFC Featherweight Championship at UFC 194. Then, wasting absolutely no time, McGregor turned his eyes toward the stars—or at least another weight class.
Though he hasn't come right out and said exactly what his next step will be, it is clear that McGregor fancies becoming the UFC's first-ever fighter to simultaneously hold championships in two weight classes.
The UFC seemingly began laying the groundwork to put the kibosh on this idea immediately after McGregor's win, with both president Dana White and vice president of public relations Dave Sholler not offering this as a possible next option for McGregor.
But McGregor believes he calls the shots now and claims he will not give up the featherweight title even if he does move up to challenge lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.
If the UFC truly desires to strip McGregor of his featherweight title if/when he moves up, it will. But the question is, should it? Or should the UFC, in the interest of creating a star of legendary proportions, go against its inherent nature and allow McGregor to pursue two UFC belts at the same time?
To answer this question, Bleacher Report Lead Writers Jeremy Botter and Jonathan Snowden pool their collective "talents" and try to figure out a proper answer.
Jeremy: I thought it was interesting, Jonathan, that the UFC brass immediately began touting Conor's two options after the fight on Saturday night. He could stick around featherweight and defend against Frankie Edgar, or he could vacate the title and move up to challenge for the lightweight belt.
In fact, I thought it was noteworthy that Sholler, standing in place for the mysteriously vanished White, also made sure to use the term "vacate" when answering questions about what's next for the UFC's biggest star. Sholler was well briefed, it seemed.
The thing I don't get is why. It would be one thing if McGregor were moving up and then putting the belts in both divisions on hold for an extended period of time. Nobody wants a freeze at the top of two separate divisions.
But, look: It's not as though McGregor is going to fight less frequently at featherweight than Aldo did. Even if McGregor defends each belt once a year, he'd still be more active than Aldo. And knowing McGregor, there's zero chance he only fights twice a year.
So what gives? Is this a power play from a company trying to retain some semblance of control over a fighter who is quickly gaining more power than any fighter it's dealt with? Otherwise, I just don't get it.
Jonathan: Refusing him this opportunity may indeed indicate that the powers that be want to send their new champion a clear message about who is in charge. The UFC brass is clearly terrified by a fighter who understands his value to the company and seems willing to push hard for every penny he's worth.
This may be nothing more than it lashing out in the only ineffectual way it knows how.
McGregor is going to earn a lot of money in the next few years. That's a given. He became the sport's biggest star before ever proving himself against championship-caliber competition.
Now that he's vanquished the top contender and the legendary champion in his division, is there any doubt he's on the path to megamillions?
The real question is whether he completely rewrites the rules the way Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather did in boxing. McGregor sees himself on that level, a place no UFC fighter—not even Ronda Rousey or Chuck Liddell—has ever found himself in.
When McGregor says he and the UFC are promotional partners, that's not just empty rhetoric and bluster. Just like in the cage, McGregor has an insatiable desire to win. After years of playing whack-a-mole with overmatched fighters attempting to challenge it, the UFC has finally found a nemesis willing to fight back.
There will be a ton of good fights in 2016. But McGregor versus the UFC may just be the most important.
Jeremy: This is where things get real interesting, then.
We have this feeling that McGregor might be the first guy totally willing to stand up to the UFC and fight for what he (rightfully) believes he's worth. The UFC never tried to screw Brock Lesnar out of money back in the day, or else he probably would've been that guy.
But now it's McGregor, and you get the sense that he's willing to do whatever he has to do in order to be paid his worth, whereas most fighters in the past have never wanted to rock the boat. They didn't really have anywhere else to go, so they stayed quiet and took what was offered.
But McGregor is a guy—perhaps the first in the history of the sport—who could promote his own fights and maybe make some money doing it. That puts him in a position of power. I guess the real question, Jonathan, is this: How much power is the UFC willing to cede to him?
And is he worth upsetting the apple cart in terms of the way it pays fighters? It's worked very hard over the years to keep its pay structure secret, both from the public and the fighters on the roster. But it's no secret that what McGregor is seeking in terms of pay is far beyond anything it's ever doled out.
If he gets what he wants, does it create a new standard that sees the UFC totally change its business model?
There's a lot at stake here—perhaps even more than people realize.
Jonathan: I don't think paying McGregor what he's worth necessarily changes the UFC's business model as we know it. The brand itself is still the most powerful drawing card in the sport, and McGregor's emergence doesn't alter that.
What we have here is a fairly unique situation. Most UFC fighters aren't Conor McGregor. He didn't find himself in this position by chance. He developed a character, in this case an exaggeration of his actual personality, and connected with fans in a way no one in UFC history has ever managed before.
Is it fair for him to demand extra money and a share of the profits? I think so. He creates revenue with the power of his persona.
There are a lot of great fighters in MMA. McGregor's predecessor as featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, is a great fighter. He is also a pay-per-view bust, averaging fewer than 200,000 buys in his last three main events, per MMAPayout.com.
McGregor, meanwhile, will have averaged close to 1 million buys per show in 2015 once all the chits are counted this year.
The difference between McGregor and Aldo, monetarily, adds up to tens of millions of dollars. You're darn right McGregor deserves a hefty chunk of that.
Jeremy: So we agree that McGregor deserves to be paid, well, pretty much whatever he asks at this point. And I think that probably extends to other areas, too, which is why the UFC should let him keep the featherweight belt while going for the lightweight belt.
And if he decides he wants to move up again and go after welterweight, it should let him do that, too.
The UFC should probably just let him do whatever he wants. Protecting its salary structure pales in comparison to keeping far and away the biggest star in the company happy, no matter what it takes. While I'm not saying the UFC would be dead without McGregor, I am saying that things are tenuous enough in this sport.
Look at November, for a perfect example. Rousey, a star who reaches demographics people in combat sports have previously only dreamed of, got her skull bashed in by Holly Holm.
Rousey's star probably wasn't diminished by that one loss, but another one in the rematch? That'd pretty much be the final chapter of the Rousey book, and then what? One of the UFC's two biggest draws would be on the sidelines.
All of that is why the UFC needs McGregor. It needs him far more than he needs it at this point.
Keep the man happy. Let him fight in two weight classes. Pay him far more than you ever dreamed you'd pay a fighter. Do whatever it takes to keep him on your side because you probably can't risk losing him. Not right now.
