FIGHTING’S most physical beings haven’t been able to stop him in his path. But after his biggest night yet, a much smaller human might be about to slow Conor McGregor’s rocketing rise, writes Joe Callaghan in New York.
The Notorious one turned in a scintillating display of incision to make history at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden in the early hours of Sunday morning, ensuring that MMA’s debut in New York will live long in the memory.
Afterwards McGregor revealed that he will be making some memories outside of the octagon in the near future, announcing that he and girlfriend Dee Devlin are expecting their first child next year -even if he wasn’t sure if they would be welcoming a little one in March or May.
ANNOUNCEMENT! Conor McGregor is going to be a dad!
— AtTheBuzzer (@TheBuzzerOnFOX) November 13, 2016
(Oh...and he says it's time he has part ownership of the UFC.) #UFC205 pic.twitter.com/mYLpzh3PnL
Time though, is very much on McGregor’s side now. With the most precise pummelling of lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in front of a record pay-per-view audience and a crowd who had shattered all of the Garden’s financial marks, McGregor bought himself all the time in the world as he plots the next move in a truly remarkable run.
The Notorious one was all patience and all power throughout the eight minutes in which he toyed with a desperately disappointing Alvarez in the headline act of a deafening night inside the old cauldron of New York sports. That patience is likely to come in handy as he awaits the impending arrival.
Conor McGregor announces he has a baby on the way, but says he doesn’t want his family to lead a celebrity life. #UFC265 #UFCNYC
— Simon Head⚡️ (@simonhead) November 13, 2016
“I’m going to be a daddy early next year. I’m crapping my jocks. I’m not going to lie. I don’t even know what way to take it,” he said in the post-fight press conference, expressing fears for perhaps the first time in his UFC run. “I don’t want to be bringing a child into anything like this. I don’t want any celebrity-type s***, I hate all that. I don’t want my family to be like that. So that’s a thing in the back of my head so I’m just going to have this baby, take a little bit of time and see what way I feel after that.”
For now, he feels good. More than good. MMA greatness had been on the line as the UFC brought the sport to the Big Apple for the first time. The featherweight champion’s quest to become the first fighter to reign over two divisions simultaneously had brought hordes in from across the Atlantic and across America’s biggest city, paying eye-watering sums for the privilege.
Never, though, has history been so easily achieved.
Alvarez’s challenge never materialised. It wasn’t given a chance to. McGregor was all over the 32-year-old early and often, knocking him down three times in the opening three minutes – each time with that wrecking ball of a left. In the end – which came with about two minutes before the end of the second – a blurring combination of two lefts and two rights put Alvarez out of his considerable misery. After a delay getting the second piece of hardware into the octagon, McGregor grasped both belts, straddled the top of the cage and raised them aloft.
What next? The Irish and Irish-ish armies who had flooded into downtown Manhattan immediately debated his likely next move. As ever, it will be whatever the hell he wants. A family-focused hiatus sounds quite likely. But whenever he does choose to return, options abound.
Dana White confirms that the UFC's pay-per-view record has been broken here in NYC tonight.
— Joe Callaghan (@JoeCallaghan84) November 13, 2016
“I’m not in no hurry anymore. Like I said, I have a kid on the way. I just want to see what happens with that, see what way it makes me feel, do you know what I mean, where my mind will be then,” said McGregor, whose first visit to the Garden helped bring in $17.7 million in ticket sales alone, another huge contribution that he wants to see spark the new owners of the organisation into action.
“They’ve got to come talk to me now because no one has come talk to me since the sale has happened,” he said of the $4 billion summer deal that saw the organisation change hands. “I mean who owns the company now? People have shares in the company now, celebrities. Conan O’Brien owns the UFC now so where’s my share? Where’s my equity?
“I’m the one who’s bringing this. They’ve got to come talk to me now. That’s all I know. I have both belts, a chunk of money, I’ve got a little family on the way. You want me to stick around, to keep doing what I’m doing, let’s talk. But I want ownership now.”
