UFC 246: The Notorious McGregor Is Back
UFC 246 gave almost everyone what they were looking for in terms of a result. Conor McGregor got his win which opened him up to a world of opportunities. Dana White, the UFC President along with fighters in the 170-pound weight class like Jorge Masvidal, Kumaru Usman would have wanted this result. A Conor win means more eyeballs, more viewership more presence and in the end, more money for everyone. Even Cowboy at the end of the day gets to go home with a big payday and that's not such a rough outcome considering everything.
The talking points still has to be a slight personality change you see in Conor. The 'Old' Conor, if he had performed this, would have not given two hoots about his opponent and maybe even taken a couple of digs at them post-match. But the 'New' Conor acted slightly differently. He went to Cowboy, hugged him, kissed his forehead and had kind words for him.
There's almost a sense of new humility to Conor ever since he's come back. He's been laughing, having fun, hasn't ridiculed his opponent and it's almost like he values all that he has right now more than he ever did. He looked like a beast at 170 Pounds and maybe Cowboy was a more favourable match-up for him than many others but it's hard not to say that this is a different Connor.
The 'Notorious' McGregor has got great skills and by the looks of it, he's improved on many more (The shoulder that broke the nose and the kick were not entirely expected by Cowboy) but there's more to it at play here.
This is a man who went astray, got caught with his millions and forgot what made him happy. He almost thought he was invincible and when he had almost everything taken from him he realized what made him happy. And by the looks of it, it's MMA and competing at the biggest stage makes him happy. He looks like a man who's gone through the defeat againt Khabib and learned from it, coming back looking to make things right.
He's still the slick talker and he will still go after the likes of Jorge Masvidal and Kumaru Usman with whom he might just tangle with in the future but the aims are different, he appreciates all of this a bit more.
The world of MMA just got what it wanted with Conor winning his return bout and UFC for sure would be looking to mint as much money as it could out of this. How good will the 'New' Conor be against the 'real' welterweights or a Khabib or Gaethje is still a question yet to be answered but it's always heartening to see someone have it all, then lose it and then try to come and take it all back again.