Can McGregor's brand grow to where he no longer needs the UFC?

[tehJameson]

He already has.

Lots of bitter people in here.

 

[D'z]

Conor doesn't have anywhere NEAR the kind of money that's necessary to compete with the UFC. However, he does have enough star power that any promotion he'd fight for would be immediately impacted. And the kind of money he would bring to said promotion would enable them to bring in big names and more exciting fighters. Ultimately, competing with the UFC, if not surpassing(though probably not).

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Not that big

Conan is like 6-4/6-5..

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Conan is a massive dude... like 6'4-6'5

Yep. Unlike so many celebrities that routinely lie about their height. He towers above all of his guests.. A legit very tall dude.

 

[Horriblehim]

He is already there. He just needs a way out of his contract. He could promote his own fights and take 95% of the profit.

 

[JayJayMMA]

Like Dr. Phil grew bigger than Oprah or Steve without Jerry or Mayweather making his brand as big as possible without the constraints of another promotion?

Or is the UFC gonna do well without the cash cow?

I'll make my stand here. The brass lives without and of course that's plain to the eyes as the sky is.

But can McGregor go out there, compete for his own brand and start a promotion, that would ideally compete against the UFC, but handle the weight of that?

This is where I say maybe? The guy is a hard worker, is like a magnet of attraction and can hang with the best in his respective weight classes.

Dream big and think realistically with your opinions because it's truly not out of the realm for McGregor to do so and has done so.

I don't see that happening in MMA, Bellator has Viacom behind it and still isn't able to compete successfully financially against the UFC, too many good fighters are tied up in contracts as well. He could co promote fights that he is involved in however I don't see him doing incredibly well in promoting others, he is brilliant at promoting himself but apart from letting others ride on his coat tails ie. Artem, Danis, etc there really isn't much promotion of them.

In Boxing it is another story, he could be like Oscar who successfully promotes other fighters and events after being well known as a fighter. Having said that I think Conor is too similar to Mayweather to create a proper business out of it, Mayweather's stable of fighters excluding Davis have only come into the spotlight when Mayweather fights on the same card and I would see Conor having the same issue. Once he finishes fighting he will continue to make money if he is smart about it but the big money will dry up.

 

[ImNotSurpisedDonks!]

He's already there but just needs to get out of his contract. We got a glimpse of what he could do with the MayMac tour, which was really just marketed on social media and was Conor doing stand up, where it was 95% pro Conor and UFC was not involved.

He could fight a number of opponents and would still sell up to a million PPV's fighting bums in McGregor Promotions.

 

[WHITE ANDERSON]

the mere mention of conor's name makes grown ass fake cholos throw temper tantrums and storm out of the building

conor mcGOAT conquered UFC

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Remember when Ronda was the biggest thing to ever happen to mma? A lot of other people don’t either, and she was huge, I’d argue that she made more of an impact on the ufc than Conor, and once she stopped competing, she faded away into the history books. Conor has been at this a relatively short period of time. Once he retires, he fades.

she didn't fade into obscurity, she's a WWE wrestler now, made her debut on WWE's biggest stage in Wrestlemania 34 where her match was the longest match of the night.

Ronda is still very popular, just not in MMA.

 

[Prex32]

nope

 

[fedoriswar37]

if conor thinks bellator would pay more he nuts cause there no ppv to make the bulk of his money.

Conor sells under the UFC brand. Conor sold under floyds brand. Theres no evidence hell sell under his own brand. Lets see him take on the responsibilkty and potential financial loss

 

[fedoriswar37]

Nothing more than a glorified loan out corporation.

People need to realize it takes a lot more than just being a loud mouth to run a successful promotion.

This. Taking on financial responsibilty isnt easy. Loaning your name out without doing that means nothing.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

They have him stuck in an iron-clad contract, he's trapped.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

The difference between MMA and boxing, is that boxers don't generally have exclusive contracts with promotions. Whereas UFC fighters have exclusive UFC deals and can't fight in another promotion. I can't really see Conor starting his own promotion and trying to compete with the UFC for fighters... it could maybe work as a one-off fight with someone but not as a consistent promotion.

That's like saying could LeBron's brand as a basketball player grow if he left the NBA. Well no... because all the other best players are in the NBA and he needs them to compete against.

Tell that to this guy. Turkey Ball. Where the best play the best.

 

[The Neckbeard]

Lol @ comparing the Irish manlet to those iconic figures. You Colin fans are reaching hard these days.

Nobody outside of Sherdog and drunken frat house millennials know who Conor is. Anyone of importance anyways.

 

[Mob69]

Define ‘need the UFC’.

If he somehow became a free agent could he sell more PPVs than any non-UFC show ever? Sure.

But he wouldn’t be fighting elite talent, and before long interest would surely wane.

Financially, Conor would need a backer who was willing to risk a mountain of cash, give Conor the bulk of the revenue, and hope to goodness that there is some profit left over at the end for them to pocket. Production costs and marketing would be ruinously expensive, and that’s before Conor’s guaranteed purse (surely $20m minimum if he was going to risk breaking with the UFC). If the event looked less glitzy than the UFC it would come across as cheap and nasty. Making it as glitzy as the UFC would cost untold millions.

In addition UFC would likely counterprogramme and use their possession of 95% of elite fighters and brand loyalty to make things very difficult for Conor and his backers. Would you pay to watch Conor vs some scrub on the same night that Khabib fought Ferguson and Jones fought Gus? I wouldn’t.

 

[D'z]

she didn't fade into obscurity, she's a WWE wrestler now, made her debut on WWE's biggest stage in Wrestlemania 34 where her match was the longest match of the night.

Ronda is still very popular, just not in MMA.

Lol gtfo here with that rasslin' shit!

 

[Dirge]

What brand exactly? The guy is a fighter. If he doesn't fight he has no brand

Pretty sure Instagram model doesn't pay much

Maybe he could take over from George foreman as the new griller spokesman

Still waiting for him to show even the tiniest bit of business sense outside of fighting

He doesn't have the brains or frankly the bankroll to start his owning fighting org either.

 

[kiley_sean]

Khabib rag-dolling Conor can't come soon enough..

 

[Kid Killashaw]

He doesn't have the discipline or smarts and too full of himself to let smarter people do it for him

based on...ziltch

He let Kavanagh and Julian Darby train him.

He lets Ari sort out his business ventures and contracts.

He lets Roddy and danis sort out his boxing and grappling.

Plenty of examples. You have zero.