No matter what the future may hold, Teddy Atlas believes Conor
McGregor is one of the most significant figures in combat
sports history.
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The boxing trainer and MMA analyst recently weighed in on
McGregor’s legacy in an interview with Slingo .
“There’s a guy that was a pioneer in making people money, a lot
like Muhammad
Ali,” Atlas said. “When Ali, with boxing, started making more
money, he broke that barrier. In the
UFC, people started making more money when Conor
McGregor came along and he broke that barrier, and people are
benefitting.”
The former UFC two-division champion hasn’t fought since breaking
his leg in a loss to Dustin
Poirier in July 2021. After coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter
31,” McGregor pulled out of a proposed booking against rival coach
Michael
Chandler at UFC 303 on the week of the fight.
Since then, there hasn’t been much discussion in regards to
McGregor’s return. After the Dublin native teased a comeback on
social media, UFC CEO Dana White
quickly dismissed the idea . While the status of McGregor’s
combat sports career remains uncertain, Atlas believes the Irish
star deserves the opportunity to make a comeback if and when he
chooses.
“Conor
McGregor has earned the right to come back because he was a
pioneer in the UFC. There’s not many pioneers out there,” said
Atlas, When you’re a pioneer you deserve the right to call it a day
when you call it a day, you deserve the right to be given more
leeway than someone else.”
When active, McGregor has been the UFC’s biggest star. A former
Cage Warriors champion, the “Notorious” enjoyed a rapid ascent in
the promotion. He won his first seven fights in the Octagon,
capturing featherweight gold with a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo. A
rivalry with Nate Diaz
became one of the sport’s biggest attractions, and in 2016 he
became a simulatenous two-division title holder when he stopped
Eddie
Alvarez at UFC 205.
That opened the door for the SBG Ireland representative to secure a
mega payday in a boxing match with Floyd Mayeather Jr. in August
2017. McGregor’s MMA career wasn’t the same after that, as he’s
just 1-3 in the UFC since 2018. However, his reputation and ability
to sell fights has allowed him to remain in the spotlight despite
numerous issues outside the cage and a long span of inactivity.
According to Atlas, other UFC athletes are continuing to reap the
rewards from what McGregor accomplished in his heyday.
“Fighters are benefiting from it, and aside from that, he was maybe
the greatest promoter we ever saw, one of the greatest promoters we
ever saw,” Atlas said. “But he was a hell of a fighter.”