The fight had been rumored for a while, and Thursday it was made official. Conor McGregor will return from what will be about a 15-month layoff to headline UFC 246 in Las Vegas against Donald Cerrone. But was this the right fight for the UFC to make right now? MMA Junkie’s Matt Erickson, Farah Hannoun and Nolan King break it down in the latest edition of Triple Take.
Matt Erickson: This is smart matchmaking for everyone involved
The oft-rumored Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone fight became a reality Thursday – the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., of all days.
It’s a fight pitting arguably the most bankable star in UFC history – McGregor – against the promotion’s all-time leader in fight-night bonus awards, which makes the matchup seem like a slam-dunk no-brainer where the hype-o-meter is concerned.
But like nearly everything in this sport, we can’t just have nice things without the naysayers getting their $0.02 in. You know the types. They’re the ones who can’t just cruise past a tweet or Facebook post or Instagram photo without chiming in, just so everyone knows they’re here. Gotta put that thumbprint on everything.
We can’t just be happy with a perfectly good fist fight between two fighters who essentially are legends and future UFC Hall of Famers. We have to put it under a microscope and pick it apart and find some kind of fault with it, right? That’s just how we do it in the Twitter Era!
It almost didn’t matter who McGregor was matched up against. The talk was going to be just that he was coming back, period. He’s been out since his UFC 229 submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and the subsequent post-fight brawl between their camps. And not coincidentally, that was the matchup (and the UFC 223 bus incident that preceded it) that seemed to kick off McGregor’s spate of outside-the-cage troubles. Add them all together – the bus arrest, the Miami Beach arrest, the Dublin pub incident – and it presents a troubling pattern.
Throw in a couple of reports of sexual assault allegations that have been vehemently denied – and that McGregor hasn’t been charged with – and a case could be made that until the Irish superstar gets his proverbial ish together in the real world, the UFC should just not book him at all.
But c’mon … we all know that’s not gonna happen. When McGregor fights, he makes money for everyone. And with his slate clean from the things he has been charged with, there’s really no reason to keep him on the sidelines if he wants to finally get back to work.
So why is this a good matchup? I’ve got two reasons for you. The first is, while Cerrone might not be a Conor McGregor fan, he almost certainly respects not only his fighting ability, but the way he’s able to get people to pay attention to him. Cerrone goes about it in a much different way – he just puts his head down, does his work, and when he’s off the clock, he goes full-on “Cowboy” doing what he wants to do.
But I’ll predict Cerrone is not going to be the type of opponent for McGregor who will engage in a whole bunch of social media trash talk. More likely, he’s the type who might not be a fan of the guy, but after they fight he’ll smile at him and raise a glass to him for going to battle. And that’s just the type of opponent the UFC needs to give McGregor right now – one who is not a major risk of baiting McGregor into Twitter wars of words, or who might turn things ugly come fight week. McGregor has had enough trouble of late – so put him in there with someone who has the potential to just show up to fight and not turn the whole thing into a sideshow leading up to it.
And secondly, this is the perfect matchup to make not for McGregor, but for Cerrone. The UFC shouldn’t book this fight as any kind of favor to McGregor. They’ve done him enough solids already, and he should just be happy to get a fight. But Cerrone? He’s been just about a perfect company man through the years. He takes fights on short notice, he takes hard fights, he fights up-and-comers – and all he does time after time is deliver. You don’t wind up with 18 fight-night bonuses if you’re not bringing it every time out.
We’ve all heard McGregor talk about the kinds of pay days he brings to the fighters he steps in against. They can be life-altering. And while Cerrone doesn’t seem to have any issues with the checks he gets from fighting, if anyone deserves a pay-per-view main event and the type of check that can come with a fight against McGregor, it’s “Cowboy.”
Everyone wins with this booking. The UFC gets McGregor back in the cage and a likely blockbuster pay-per-view event out of the gate in 2020. McGregor gets back to work against an opponent who is likely to be willing to just fight him in the cage, and not on social media. And Cerrone gets his “Red Panty Night.” It’s a trifecta, and it’s perfect.
Farah Hannoun: Right fight, wrong weight class
Conor McGregor is back, and he’ll be taking on a very game Donald Cerrone. But I have one issue with this fight: It’s at welterweight. I’m not quite sure why it was booked at 170 pounds, whether it was short notice due to negotiations stalling, or what. But this fight should have been at lightweight. McGregor looks best physically at lightweight, and Cerrone is a former UFC lightweight title challenger.
McGregor has mentioned a specific path that entailed Jan. 18, followed by recent “BMF” belt winner Jorge Masvidal, then finally a rematch with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, which could be why this fight is at welterweight. But if the end goal is the 155-pound belt, and you’re taking on a guy who has competed at lightweight for the majority of his career, then why not just fight him at 155 pounds?
I do like the matchup, though, for several reasons. First of all, Cerrone does bring name value in regard to a pay-per-view main event opponent for McGregor. He’s been in there with just about everyone, and it’s nice to see him getting this big payday opportunity.
While he is coming off back-to-back losses, people have to remember that McGregor has only competed in MMA once in the past two years and has not been that active. Not that Cerrone is a tune-up fight of any sorts – he’s a dangerous striker with a very underrated ground game, and the ability to finish the fight anywhere – but putting McGregor up against a streaking Masvidal or Justin Gaethje right out of the gate wouldn’t have been the most logical move.
The one risky point for McGregor is he may not get that much credit for beating Cerrone and will likely be in a very tough spot should he lose. But since it’s been a while since he’s been active, I believe Cerrone is the right opponent for his comeback fight – just not at welterweight.
Nolan King: McGregor vs. Cerrone is good, but Gaethje would have been better
Most people won’t outright complain about having the opportunity to see Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone throw down. I know I won’t. It’s a high-action fight between two of the most well-known fighters on the UFC roster.
McGregor vs. Cerrone is good, but McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje would be even better.
This is true for three main reasons.
First off, McGregor vs. Gaethje makes more sense from a divisional standpoint. If McGregor is serious about wanting a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov, he should be doing everything in his power to knock off those close to being granted the next title shot.
Additionally, Gaethje brings everything “Cowboy” brings to the table – and then some. One of the most exciting fighters in the history of MMA, Gaethje is one of the few competitors who can up the violence potential above Cerrone. Sure, McGregor and Cerrone will be exciting. But Gaethje-level exciting? That’s unlikely.
Third, McGregor will not be able to make the same statement against Cerrone as he would Gaethje. If the Irishman walks to the cage and knocks Cerrone silly, he’ll be seen as doing the same thing Gaethje just did. Cerrone will be on a three fight losing skid: “McGregor beat a declining fighter.”
Good for Cerrone. He deserves this – he deserves this payday. And hell, he could certainly beat McGregor. I’m just looking for the best, most sensical matchups possible – and that could have been found in McGregor vs. Gaethje.
