With there being no return date in sight, Dana White is reportedly desperate for Conor McGregor to buck his ideas up and make his UFC return.
While the talent pool is undoubtedly the best it has ever been in mixed martial arts, the UFC is arguably at its worst in terms of star power. For potentially the first time in modern history, the company doesn’t have one champion capable of selling huge pay-per-views—with their biggest draws being Islam Makhachev and a Jon Jones on the verge of retirement.
Though he shouldn’t be your first source of information regarding the UFC, Brendan Schaub made a strong point about the UFC’s current state.
“UFC’s in some trouble, man,” Schaub said during an episode of The Fighter and The Kid podcast. “Name their big star.”
“Belal [Muhammad]? I love him [but he’s not a star]. [Magomed] Ankalaev? How many pay-per-views is he selling? Two. His mum and his uncle.”
“[Alexandre] Pantoja, 135. We don’t give a f***. 125, who else you got? Merab [Dvalishvili]? Nah, not happening… We’re talking about pay-per-view stars, bud. Big difference. Nobody.”
“At middleweight, [Dricus Du Plessis] has a chance, he’s probably the most exciting. [Islam] Makhachev. Makhachev is probably their biggest star.”
“[Alex] Pereira is still their most pay-per-view guy but Makhachev’s their biggest star. Pound-for-pound and, you know, he’s exciting.”
Related: Nate Diaz lashes out at ‘Ewok’ Islam Makhachev
Turning his attention to fighters of Russian descent, Schaub insisted that outside of Islam Makhachev, they’re not exciting fighters.
“Who’s their most exciting fighter? Islam. Outside of Islam, who? Ankalaev?… I like Merab, he’s not a finisher, though. You’re not selling pay-per-views off that.”
Conor McGregor is featured in the main event of 8 of the UFC’s 10 most bought pay-per-views in history.
McGregor’s popularity helped Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz, and others gain more credibility from the casual fan, but now there isn’t anybody remotely close to his level of fame.
Brendan Schaub’s co-host on his podcast, Bryan Callen, later weighed in on the discussion.
“They’re dying for a Conor [McGregor], Callen said. “Also, [the Russian fighters] are not talkers. They’re not talkers, they just get their job done. They’re soldiers…”
“We want the bad boys, we want the Irish, we want the Ian Machado Gary’s.”
Check it out below.
