...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"It's a dream come true to be back here to put my nation on the map and to hear that 99% of the nation [could] watch this fight. I don't think there's a fighter in the UFC's history that's done what I've done in the space that I've done it... When I put this guy away and make it look easy, which I will do, people will say, 'How did he do that? Let's jump this guy ahead in the queue and put him straight into a title shot.' You're going to see a true No. 1 contender here on Saturday night."
-Conor McGregor talks to USA Today about his headlining bout in Dublin on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 46.
Penick's Analysis: While the event may be available in the homes of 99% of the population, that's assuredly not going to be how many actually tune in on Saturday. And this continues McGregor's unsubstantiated ideas of his place in the featherweight field. Beating Brandao is a necessity, sure, but even him pulling off the most impressive win he's had to date won't mean he moves into the No. 1 contender spot. A win over Brandao just doesn't mean quite that much. The over-selling of his accomplishments gets a bit old as well. He's fighting in just his third fight, and is only headlining because the UFC brought him to his home town. To act as if what he's doing is somehow unprecedented is just flat out false; if you want to look at someone doing even more than he's done in the time he's done it, look no further than the real biggest star the UFC's ever had, Brock Lesnar, who by this point in his UFC run had not only captured the UFC Heavyweight Championship, but was gearing up to defend it on the UFC's biggest selling pay-per-view of all time. McGregor may eventually prove to be the real deal in every capacity, but he's far from that point right now.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.