Conor McGregor: Is McGregor's style of promotion a successful method for himself and the company?
Since he was signed into the UFC roster in 2013, Irish superstar Conor McGregor has employed a brash style of self-promotion, making him an attraction during the UFC's press conference and other interviews.
Similar to that of Floyd Mayweather's method in boxing which earned him great success since adapting the "Money Mayweather" persona in 2007, "The Notorious" was able to ascend from being a mere name in the Zuffa roster, to an overnight global superstar overnight.
And what makes his story a far more compelling one is the fact that his words are not for mere self-promotion purposes. He is actually able to back up each of his statements, from finishing Dustin Poirier in the first round, to knocking out Chad Mendes in the second, and most notably, defeating José Aldo within the first minute of the fight.
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Recently, however, he has been involved in a business tug-o-war with the UFC, when he refused to comply with the media obligations set out by the UFC for the upcoming UFC 200 card on July 9th in Las Vegas. According to the 28-year old fighter, all the press tours were far too taxing, that he actually asked for a leeway, this time. Unfortunately for him, UFC execs turned it down.
There are two schools of thought in this particular scenario. One would be for fighters to simply comply, which is required for them to do. Current bantamweight champion Miesha Tate even revealed that the remaining figthers on the UFC 200 card, including her, were forced to "pick up the pieces" and fill the void that McGregor's absence has left.
The other one would be that McGregor might be doing more press obligations that the usual non-top draw fighter, which could be taxing.
"To have that guy fly around the world and do all this sh-t, at the end of the day, we gotta remember, this is a sport," said former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub. "This is not the WWE."
UFC president Dana White confirmed that McGregor would be back in the succeeding cards after UFC 200. But as for his style of promotion, Conor McGregor has already established himself as the persona he has built through all the trash talking, which in turn has given him a good amount of success, and has brought mainstream attention to mixed martial arts.
For the sake of the business, and McGregor himself, it does not look like there would be a dramatic change. But at the same time, the UFC should very well take a step back and analyze if they are imposing too much PR work for their top draws.
"We're in the hurt business," Schaub said. "He has to focus, man. I think Conor's to blame, too, Dana's to blame. I think both of them just need to talk."
