Conor McGregor will be under plenty of pressure when he steps back into the octagon this summer.
The former two-division champion is set to return to action after a five-year layoff, with a rematch against Max Holloway scheduled for UFC 329 on July 11.
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier, and all eyes will be on him as he returns during International Fight Week.
That tends to be true any time he’s involved, but according to Matt Brown, there’s even more at stake this time around. Brown believes another loss would further damage McGregor’s standing in the sport.
In recent years, several of McGregor’s comeback plans have fallen through, including the scheduled bout with Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in 2024. That has left many fans questioning whether he’ll actually make it back to the Octagon this summer.
And even if he does, Brown isn’t convinced that a loss to Holloway would put McGregor out of reach of another title shot.
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Speaking on MMA Fighting’s The Fighter vs. The Writer, Brown said: “If he doesn’t go in there and win, I think it’s going to be a unanimous agreement that no one wants to see him fight again either, even if he looks good,” Brown said on MMA Fighting’s The Fighter vs. The Writer .
“That doesn’t mean people won’t watch when he fights again… everybody will watch. He’s a big enough star, he could fight and lose the next five or 10 times and people will still watch.”
“But the interest will wane hugely if he doesn’t make this walk and find a way to win. It’s a lot of pressure on his side,” he continued.
“Whether he wins or loses, I have to have some respect for Conor for taking the fight against Max Holloway… I’m sure he understands what’s on the line for him. If he loses this fight, his relevance as a fighter drops dramatically.
“We’ll watch, he could fight another 10 times, I’m sure everyone would watch. But his relevance as a world-class competitor pretty much drops off the map. Any fights he does after that is kind of like influencer fights or something along those lines.”
This time around, though, things are very different, and it looks like may be getting into too deep waters by taking on such an active fighter whilst coming off such a long layoff due to injury.
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