If you thought McGregor vs. Alvarez was big…
Conor McGregor’s career path ever since firmly fixing the spotlight on himself in the UFC has not been what you would call traditional.
Rather than defend his featherweight title ‘The Notorious’ has fought twice at “welterweight”, against Nate Diaz, and his tendency to favour super-fights over linear challengers has been a breath of fresh, if unorthodox, air.
His fan-friendly approach to prizefighting has made him arguably the most popular fighter in the UFC and one potential comer would likely have broken every record in the book.
Apparently, McGregor was being lined up to welcome former 170lbs kingpin and pound-for-pound great Georges St-Pierre back to the Octagon.
St-Pierre hasn’t fought since 2013, when he scraped by Johny Hendricks in the last defence of his welterweight title before he vacated his belt and stepped away from the fight game.
A lot has changed since GSP walked away, with the Reebok deal and USADA’s testing protocol the more significant differences to how the UFC operates nowadays.
The Montreal native now finds himself in USADA’S testing pool for the first time, as he sets up a potential comeback in Toronto this December.
But it could well have been an earlier return for the former welterweight champion as, according to Jose Aldo, St-Pierre had given the green light to a fight with McGregor earlier this year in exchange for an incredible fight purse.
The claim came while Aldo, the interim featherweight champion, was lambasting the ability of McGregor to float between weight classes without defending his 145lbs title.
“I think that my life and the whole featherweight division needs to keep going, not being stalled while he (McGregor) does three fights in the lightweight division,” Aldo told Combate (via Forbes and Bloody Elbow).
“Another one that he wanted to do, make a super fight with Georges St-Pierre, which didn’t work out because Georges wanted $10 million and Dana didn’t want to pay it. So he still put him with Nate for the second time. So for me, Dana’s word is worthless.”
Prior to March, no UFC fighter had ever earned a disclosed purse in excess of $1 million although fighters’ rewards are increasing steadily, due in no small part to the impact of McGregor, as that record has been broken on numerous occasions ever since.
Brock Lesnar claimed a disclosed payout of $2.5 million for his comeback at UFC 200 before McGregor and Diaz took home $3 million and $2 million respectively for their rematch at UFC 202 in August.
An argument could be made that St-Pierre is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time and one has to respect his hustle in trying to make a cool $10 mil for a return, but we’d expect that figure to be negotiated heavily before a bout agreement is signed.
Here’s hoping a deal can be struck!
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