Conor McGregor, UFC & Criminal Activity — Just Another Money Making Game
If you are a MMA or UFC fan — you would know Conor McGregor.
He is the rags to riches, the epitome of greatness and the ultimate underdog story. If there was a Hollywood movie that could be made of another Rocky — it would Conor McGregor rise to UFC & Global stardom.
This 29 year old, 5'9 fighter from Dublin, Ireland who caught the fighting world by storm when he on 6 April 2013, he knocked out Marcus Brimage with ease and then went to surprise everyone by beating Max Holloway on 17 August 2013.
It was only when he fought against Diego Brandão did he truly come to the spotlight. His ability to promote a fight, to sell himself to a crowd and to rally his fans behind him made him simply spectacular. With the charisma of a politician, the brashness of a teenager & the creativity of a movie director — Conor McGregor created an aura of invincibility, a larger than life persona & psychic ability to not only sell a fight but also predict when he would beat his opponent. And mind you, the opponents he was facing, were all world-ranked athletes.
In fact, many a times even I predicted he would lose or that he was simply hyping up the fight or trying to sell more tickets through a fake persona . But guess what — he delivered every single time.
And then came the fight of all fights, the biggest one that everyone was talking about and the one Conor Mcgregor himself was selling since the day he joined the UFC — The battle for the Championship Belt — The fight with the undisputed & untouchable feather weight Champion José Aldo. He was undefeated & unbeatable since his past 18 fights. And for the past 10 years — no one could solve this puzzle — how to defeat Jose Aldo.
The fight between Jose Aldo & Conor McGregor became the most talked about, the most hyped up and the most eagerly anticipated match of all time. The way, the manner and the style by which Conor McGregor promoted, pushed and promulgated this fight — it was Art in Action. If one had to dedicate his entire life to studying how to promote a fight — Conor McGregor laid down the blue print. Even his one-liners were quotes in gold that resonated with not only his fans but his haters as well. Seriously, who could forget “We’re not here to take part. We’re here to take over.”
From there Conor McGregor went on to not only win UFC Gold, he gave us some of the greatest matches in MMA history. And if you thought you seen it all — the Magic of McGregor had only begun.
He then embarked on a journey to do the unthinkable.
He managed to convince the world that he was destined to beat the Greatest of the Greatest Boxing legends of all time — Floyd Money Mayweather. It was a promotion so powerful, so persuasive & so perfectly executed that Floyd Money Mayweather himself came out of retirement and agreed to fight Conor McGregor. And boy — was the entire world talking about this fight. It was a fight hype of the century. And in the end — even though Conor McGregor lost the fight — it was Conor McGregor who was the king on the top.
Conor McGregor proved without a shadow of a doubt he was not just the most charismatic fighter in the world, he was also the most bankable star & he was a promoters pipe dream.
The statement was ironclad — if you teamed up and worked with Conor McGregor — you would be counting the Billions in your bank account. He was the Elvis Presley of the MMA world, the Bruce Lee of Entertainment & Mike Tyson of Promoting fights.
Fast forward to On 3 April 2018.
UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov and another UFC Fighter Artem Lobov had a minor altercation before their respective fights in the hotel they were residing. Artem Lobov who is a close friend of Conor McGregor got into a verbal disagreement of sorts with Khabib — who in the past was known to have strong disagreements with Conor McGregor.
Raging disagreements, Angry verbal exchanges & Heated Confrontations are a common place before a fight as athletes not only undergo mental but physically stress as they are cutting weight. In order to lose weight they undergo extreme fasting & they get emotionally taxed out. So it is but expected for many fighters to snap angrily when confronted.
All this was expected.
But what happened later, on 5 April 2018 was beyond shocking.
Conor McGregor who wasn’t expected to be in New York — hopped on his private jet along with 20 of his other friends, stormed into Barclays Center where most of the athletes had just completed their Media Day obligations and physically attacked the bus which was carrying all the athletes back to their respective hotels. His main focus was to confront Khabib Nurmagomedov — however, the manner in which he did it was unacceptable.
Video footage from various smartphone cameras showed Conor McGregor running up alongside the moving bus and throwing heavy objects at the bus — from a Metal equipment dolly to railings to barriers. 2 UFC fighters Borg & Chiesa — who had absolutely nothing to do with this incident, ended up injured and were sent to the hospital. And because of their injuries were unable to fight. Almost all the fighters men & women — were deeply disturbed due to the incident. But even more so the organization, the fans, the followers & the people who followed the sport.
Now — you may argue what is the big deal of what Conor McGregor did? After all, aren’t all these people fighters? End of the day isn’t this what they do — hit, beat, punch and kick each other to glory? And on top of it — isn’t this kind of reminiscent of what goes on in WWE — bumping into fighters in the parking lot and hitting the bejesus out of each other?
Here’s the thing.
- Yes, they are fighters. But they fight under common rules stated by the governing body under which they fall under. And these fighters do so as their profession calls for it — for entertainment purposes. But where there are fixed rules & regulations and a set of governing laws.
- There is a big difference between fighting under the spotlight, with rules & regulations with a referee & judges to monitor what is going on versus having a street fight with no rules.
What Conor McGregor did was a total and utter violation of the law. He showed the world he was a bully. He showed all of us that he could use his position of power, his influence & his money to do whatever he wanted. What Conor McGregor did was a criminal offense and an act that could have potentially harmed or even killed someone.
Personally speaking, I feel that the biggest sin Conor McGregor committed was that he set a wrong example of the millions of young fans, followers and friends of his about how one should deal with a problem when disagreements arise.
Imagine for a minute — if someone innocent who had nothing to do with the fight got injured, got hurt or worse, died because of this incident? In a day and age where one punch, one kick or an accident where an object can result in permanent injury or even death — was this act acceptable?
And then — let me ask you this — if it wasn’t Conor McGregor, lets assume it was someone else — anyone random and that ordinary unknown person committed this crime, what do you suppose would the befitting punishment be? What do you think would have been your opinion or agreement on such an act? And if in case you are a Conor McGregor fan — lets turn the tables — lets assume someone whom you hate did this to Conor McGregor — then how would you react then?
I strongly believe that there shouldn’t be two different punishments for the same crime. If we punish an ordinary unknown person for a crime committed, having money, power & influence shouldn’t make you untouchable to the law. And if you hate racism, sexism and any kind of unfair practices that differentiates one human being from another based on color, creed, religion, money or any other external trait, then what Conor McGregor did should also be unpardonable.
My fear is this.
If Conor McGregor gets a clean bill of health and is giving a walk-out-of-jail ticket without being severely punished for his actions, it will give rise to bigger, badder and bolder acts of violence. It will give our youth the message that if you do not like someone or something, take the law into your own hands. And it will bring out a trend & belief in that Might, Madness & Money is Right.
Don’t get me wrong — I do admire Conor McGregor.
At 29 years of age he has accomplished far, far, far beyond than what Billions of us could accomplish. However, life is not all about money, power & success. If it was then Hitler, Than Shwe or Ted Bundy should also be looked upon in a different light. After all, isn’t Osama Bin Ladin, Kim Jong-un & Robert Mugabe admired by his own people? Don’t these people also have their own fans, followers and friends who nullify and negate any wrong these people do? How do you justify one act of breaking the law which could have hurt a harmless human being with another?
I personally believe had Conor done this same act if he didn’t have the money, the success or the fame — he would not only be jailed without a doubt. No one would want to be associated with him and no one would want to stand up for him. He would be branded as a Criminal, a Hooligan and a Petty minded individual. And that is exactly why even with money, power and success — I feel the crime is the same.
Conor McGregor violated and disrespected the laws & privileges of being given a visa to visit America as a guest, he disrespected the organization & the hand that fed him and he disappointed millions of fans who looked up to him as a source of inspiration, motivation and hope. It is all because Money, power & success got to his head. And if someone lacks the character, the ethics & the mindset to be a champion — we do not need such gods in our midst.
Now it is all a matter of time before we come to know what the UFC, what the Governing Body — The Athletic State Commission does and what direction the legal system plans to go. And it will set the precedent for many things to come.
If you ask me, I doubt Conor McGregor will have anything to worry about. Given that we live in a world where money, power & success do the talking — well, I feel…. rather I know Conor McGregor was just get a small slap on the wrist, be instructed to keep a low profile, and before you know it — another new fight with be promoted using this incident as the foundation stone to help make everyone earn billions.
After all, isn’t big money the name of the game and the end we all look for?
