When Conor McGregor held court in a separate post-fight press conference at UFC 194, it became clear t fans and pundits alike that they were dealing with an entirely different character. McGregor, dressed in a maroon suit, charmed those in attendance and even hinted subtly that he could co-promote with the UFC as a separate entity.
That trend continued at the UFC 197 press conference, as the proceeding were delayed until McGregor, this time dressed much more casually, arrived to hand out sharp-tongued quotes to whoever was listening.
His attitude, along with his ability to command incredible PPV buy rates, made several retired legends contemplate whether McGregor could one day promote himself as a separate entity, as boxers have done repeatedly. Randy Couture was the first to suggest it, while fellow former fighter Bas Rutten seems to be of a similar opinion.
"I do believe that he holds all the cards now," Rutten told Submision Radio when asked about co-promotion. "Everybody wants to see him. Whether you want to see him win or lose, it doesn't matter, you want to see him. We're talking about like four, five hundred thousand more pay-per-view buys than a normal show will have. I think McGregor, if he fights against Rafael Dos Anjos, the way he promotes it, that could be a 1.5, 1.6 [million buys], it could break the records."
If not full-fledged co-promotion under a separate entity, Rutten believes McGregor has enough leverage to demand a significant increase in PPV points, or an altered revenue split that is more balanced towards the fighter instead of the promoter.
"And why not tell, as a fighter, say ‘okay normally you get like four bucks or three seventy-five per pay-per-view buy' - I don't know what the contract says - ‘but he can say okay, what about once we go past 1.2 million, everything after that I just want half'. You know? And they're going to be stupid to say no. Because if they say no, they're going to miss out on all that money. If they say yes, it's going to great for them and it's going to be great for McGregor, and that will open barriers also for bigger paydays.
But then now also everybody has the blueprint of McGregor. I heard Diaz saying - Nate - he said ‘yeah we kind of gave him the blueprint, the way he presents himself'. That's absolutely not true. He doesn't use any profanity, he's very smart in everything that he's saying, and the way he's attacking, he's doing it completely different and he's doing it very smart. And I think more fighters should start taking a look at that and say ‘hey, wait a minute, yes it's a fight and I understand that, but if you wanna make more money, well you're going to have to tone it up a little bit."