Since he rose to prominence in the combat sports world, Conor McGregor’s name has been synonymous with outrageous behavior. The most notable incident also happens to be the most recent one, where he threw a dolly at a fighters’ bus during the UFC 223 media day in April.
McGregor has been charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief for the fracas, and is required to appear in court on June 14th. However, it is highly unlikely for him to be punished by the UFC, and he may have actually put himself in prime position to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight title sometime in the near future.
According to MMA analyst Robin Black, this is where the problem lies.
“My theory based on bits of information that we have is that if your kid does something terrible that we know is bad, (and) you give him candy every time, they’re gonna (continue to) do bad sh-t,” Black told Joe Rogan in a recent episode of the JRE MMA Show podcast.
“Conor’s been rewarded; he gets richer, more famous, more influential, (been given) belts. He’s been given candy every time he’s done this, and it works.”
“There are parallels in the political system in America, and there are parallels all over the world that by acting out in these strange ways, it’s so bizarre and unsettling that we reward it.”
For Black, the UFC 223 bus incident may have been intended to go another way, if only McGregor had not shown up late, just like how he would during a number of his UFC media obligations.
“What is the one thing we know about Conor? He’s always late,” Black said. “He didn’t plan to get there when they were on a bus. He planned to get there when they were in a hall. He planned to get there when there’s a bunch of people around and security, and it’s easy to manage. A little pushing, little shoving, a couple of cameras, and all of a sudden, his $5 million payday is a $12 million payday in Russia, and everybody’s going crazy, ‘it’ll work, it’s brilliant.’”
“But he’s late, he shows up there on the bus. Now, the cameras are out and what’s he gonna do? He’s gotta perform. He came there to perform, he came there to do a thing, he showed up, and now, it goes sideways.”
“That’s the most likely scenario, is that it was a ‘let’s do it, it will feel right for us as defending our friend, but also it will have an inherent value when the cameras come out and nobody will get hurt.”
McGregor did seem to regret his actions on some level, at least according to strawweight contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The Polish fighter recently revealed that Conor wrote her an apology letter, which made her decide not to take any legal action.
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