Chael Sonnen believes that like Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor may become a victim of his own success.
McGregor finds himself in an interesting position. He has lost two bouts in a row. The “Notorious” one has gone 1-3 in his last four outings. While a fourth fight with Dustin Poirier figures to be a massive payday once McGregor fully heals from his broken tibia, one has to wonder what would happen if “Mystic Mac” loses to “The Diamond” a third time.
If that were to happen, Sonnen believes Conor McGregor could be on the same path as Rousey where booking him in anything other than a main event would be near-impossible (h/t Sportskeeda).
“There’s athletes who become victims of their own success. It’s a reality. I’ll bring Ronda [Rousey] into this, a name that you guys would know. Ronda got so good and she got so big, her contract got so beautiful in terms of her payment and participation that she has to headline. You could not bring her in and put her as a co-main event. You would have no money left to pay your real main event. You couldn’t bring her in to be the second fight on the main card. You’d have no budget left.
“Not only was she fighting in main events, she was fighting world championship fights in main events. So, when she drops a couple…she was still one of the gals and this was something she wanted to do. She would have been meaningful, she would have been competitive…but she couldn’t do it in main events against world champions which is essentially what her level of success called for.”
McGregor will spend the next six weeks on crutches. UFC President Dana White has said that Poirier vs. McGregor 4 makes sense. Before that happens, Poirier will likely challenge Charles Oliveira for the UFC Lightweight Championship.
