The Champ Champ is coming back to The Octagon without his two belts, and they expect him to tow the line?
Conor McGregor is six weeks out from his fighting return to the UFC.
‘The Notorious’ has attended a couple of live events but has not fought since he starched Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden back in 2016. Since then he has become a father, got into some legal issues, crashed UFC 223 and boxed Floyd Mayweather in his professional debut.
On October 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, McGregor is set to headline UFC 229 in a lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Cynics could argue that McGregor and Nurmagomedov already cut an epic promo, in April, when the Dubliner and several of his entourage stopped and attacked a bus carrying ‘The Eagle’, several other fighters and UFC staff.
UFC president called the actions of McGregor, and those in his circle, ‘the most disgusting thing that has ever happened’ in the promotions history. And yet footage of the incident, which left several fighters and company employees shaken and/or injured, has already surfaced in promos for the pay-per-view event.
Still, the UFC were hoping for more media events and promotional appearances to go with what they hope will be a record-smashing PPV. Over on MMA Mania, Dave Meltzer claims the promotion are unhappy with the lack of media commitments from McGregor. He writes:
“One of the reasons you haven’t seen much in the way of interviews and such is that McGregor has not agreed to do anything.
“There are no press conferences scheduled because McGregor at this point hasn’t agreed to them. There is a lot of frustration within the UFC about McGregor’s attitude, but in the end, he’s got the leverage and the ticket sales and secondary market results only give him more leverage.”
In fairness to the 30-year-old, he has recently upped his mind games with ‘The Eagle’ on social media and told Mayweather to go f*** himself after the boxing promoter offered him use of his gym facilities in Vegas ahead of his UFC return. That and his no resolved legal issues stemming from the bus attack have generated a bevvy of headlines.
Now it appears Conor McGregor is not expected to return to Las Vegas until mid to late September to finish up his camp for UFC 229 per @MeganOlivi
Still no word on a press conference or event featuring both Conor and Khabib. #UFC229
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) August 30, 2018
Damon Martin is a well connected MMA writer but Ariel Helwani, who may well trump him for sources, has heard that McGregor and Nurmagomedov will, in fact, face off at a New York press conference in September.
