Opinion: How Conor McGregor vs. the UFC Became a Win-Win

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media. For better or worse, this UFC 200 debacle involving Conor McGregor and the Ultimate Fighting Championship has gone from public-relations disaster to a massive coup for the MMA promotion. Although there are fans who are disgruntled with the fact that everybody’s favorite Irish fighter will no longer compete at the UFC’s biggest event, somehow this has managed to become an immensely profitable situation. Yes, UFC 200 was dealt a blow when McGregor decided that being a globetrotting trash talker wasn’t a necessity; and now that Nate Diaz is likely following him out the door and into a vacation — only those close to the Stockton, California, fighter have a clue what a Diaz Brothers Family Vacation would look like — the UFC actually finds itself in a great position. The reason why: McGregor hasn’t retired and Diaz only wants to fight McGregor. You know what that means? That means they’ll headline another card, perhaps this summer, and do a significant amount of pay-per-view buys. I’m sure the panic button was originally slammed with the ferocity of some Derrick Lewis ground-and-pound when the McGregor situation was playing out for the public in real time. However, it only takes a moment of reflection to realize that as long as McGregor is still interested in fighting, the UFC wins. As for the fans? Whoever is complaining about the UFC 200 lineup clearly is jaded and needs to stop watching MMA. Sure, the card would have been significantly more appealing with both McGregor and Ronda Rousey …

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