The reason why Conor McGregor hasn’t been stripped of his featherweight title yet is obvious, according to Chael Sonnen.
For any normal UFC champion, taking a third fight in a row away from your weight division would be enough to have your belt revoked, but Conor McGregor is no ordinary champion.
After completing back-to-back welterweight bouts against Nate Diaz, “the Notorious” is set to take on Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt at UFC 205. Although he is yet to defend his featherweight crown, Dana White has made it clear that he will not be stripped of his title before fight night, but he will be forced to give up one of the titles if he beats “the Underground King” in New York.
The decision to allow Conor McGregor to keep his belt was met with some backlash from certain fighters on the promotion’s roster, but as Chael Sonnen bluntly put it on Beyond the Fight, these guys are ‘idiots’.
“I’ve never heard anybody come out and speak on Conor’s behalf and say he ought to be able to hold that belt. I’m sure there’s people who think that, but I’ve never heard anyone say it – from the media to the TV, I’ve never heard anyone say it.”
“Now we’ve got fighters in weight classes that have no standing in this matter, who I imagine is just coming from a standpoint of jealousy, and they’re saying, ‘You should strip him. Gotta strip him, gotta move that division on.'”
Conor McGregor could do worse things than listen to Chael Sonnen's advice on how to endear himself to fans #UFC205 https://t.co/OpVatFBvar
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 13, 2016
Sonnen, who recently made a high-profile move to the UFC’s biggest competitor Bellator, is blown away at the fact that people aren’t grasping why McGregor is allowed to keep his belt. For him it’s simple, a potential history-making fight involving McGregor is better business than your bog-standard Red Panty Night.
“I can’t believe people don’t understand this who are in the industry. To acknowledge how dumb fighters are, and I’m not trying to insult them, there’s just not another word out there – they’re dumb. To understand a fighter’s lack of understanding of the business standpoint – how important media partners are and understanding what a promoter – they don’t get it.”
“I’ll take the mask off and I’ll tell you guys what’s going on here. There’s a historic opportunity if Conor beats Eddie Alvarez. The opportunity is that he will be the first guy in history to hold two world championships simultaneously in the UFC. It has never happened before.”Â
The American Gangster believes that if the UFC were to strip McGregor now, the only purpose it would serve would be to shoot themselves in the foot allowing them to watching fountains of cash come spurting out of the wound.
“If you are the UFC and through the power of the pen you take one of those belts away, you also lose the opportunity that so much media is running with to have the historic opportunity. If you wait to strip him or make a decision in that weight class til after the fight you preserve that opportunity. That is so obvious. The UFC can’t come out and say that there’s a marketing opportunity there, because then they lose it.”
The gulf in pay between Alvarez and McGregor is absolutely staggering… https://t.co/PltzDETRsx
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) September 28, 2016
Sonnen puts all the calls for McGregor to have his belt revoked down to jealousy. He feels that even if fighters are only acting out of selfishness, speaking out to get McGregor’s belt taken off him would be the worst move they could possibly make.
“They say everything else, so you would think that the fighters would be able to understand this concept, shut their mouths and if anything, beat the drum. ‘Wow, this is a wonderful opportunity. This has never been done before. Conor could be the first.’ Help perpetuate the story.”
“Instead, these son of a bitches are throwing water on the fire. They’re trying to get him stripped. ~If you strip him through the power of the pen instead of the fight itself, why would you do that and kill the headline and the marketability to the historic potential evening.”
In typical Sonnnen fashion, he closed his piece with one last insult, although he claimed it wasn’t actually meant as one. However, it’s difficult to perceive the word ‘idiot’ as anything other than an insult… unless, of course, you’re an idiot.
“Why do I have to explain this, so other fighters can hear it and go, ‘Oh my God, he’s right.’ How do you not understand what’s going on in your own industry? This is why you guys don’t get to be part of it, because you’re too dumb. I’m not trying to put you down. Dumb has a definition, go look it up and then relate it to yourself, because you fall under it.”
