Former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been going through a sexual assault charge and it seems his legacy is about to come to an end.
The Irishman has been out of the cage since suffering an injury in 2021 but the fighter never made a return to the octagon. In 2018, the athlete was accused of raping Nikita Hand after a night out. McGregor is liable for the sexual assault lawsuit and is currently in court for the case. Although the fighter has continuously maintained his innocence and plans on appealing the verdict sadly the damage has already been done.
The case has made news and is currently the talk of the town in the MMA world. Retired fighter Matt Brown had a lot to say about this new development and how it will affect the former champion’s legacy. He believes the fighter may still be able to recover and restore his legacy.
“Conor’s going to be in a shitstorm here,” UFC legend Matt Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Obviously he’s going to be fined financially, I don’t think he’s got any problems there. But I think public-wise, publicity-wise, it’s going to hurt him for sure. It should.
“Whether he was convicted criminally or not, which you said we’re not going to get into, whether he actually did it or not, he was found civilly liable and the fact is he put himself in a situation where something like this could happen. Now, he’s got to pay the consequences for it. It should be publicly held accountable for it.”
Although the fighter has had a rocky past, none have been considered as serious as these sexual allegations. McGregor is known as a fiery character in the octagon, coupling this with the new allegations laid against him, it’s easy for the court of public opinion to rule him guilty.
“The public opinion of him has changed,” Brown said. “He never had that squeaky clean image like Tiger Woods did. He wasn’t that squeaky clean. We all knew he was kind of a wild man. But that kind of added to the allure. Like he’s a wild man, but he’s a respectable martial artist, he’s not going to do ‘that.’ Now he has crossed that line, at least according to a jury, he has crossed that line.
“There’s a group of people that are going to have a loss of respect for him and are not going to care as much about what he does or not want to be involved with what he’s doing. It has long-reaching effects.”
The Irishman has suffered a lot of drawbacks since this news broke, many companies have dropped him due to his bad publicity but Brown feels there may still be a chance of redemption. The retired fighter says such comebacks have happened before with fighters like Mike Tyson.
“I don’t think this is unsalvageable, but he has to be the one to salvage it,” Brown said. “No one’s going to be the one to save him in this situation. The UFC can’t save him. He has to do the right things. Get the f*ck out of the clubs. Put down the straws and get back in the gym. Maybe fighting isn’t what he wants to do anymore so maybe that’s not the right path, but I think it’s salvageable.
“If he comes out, and says ‘I learned a lot from this situation and I’m not putting myself in these types of situations anymore, I’m focusing on my family … all that kind of stuff, says all the good things — people like to see a redemption story. People want people to be good people. We want Conor to do that, but he has to be the one to do it, though. It’s not going to happen by itself.”
Despite Brown’s support for McGregor during this incident, the retired fighter had doubts about McGregor’s return in the past. He shared thoughts on McGregor not coming back to the octagon but now, Brown is rooting for the fighter. He hopes McGregor is able to revive his public image.
“I’m going to be cheering him on if he does that,” Brown said. “He straightens out his life, and he becomes a better person out of this whole scenario. I’m saying this with little confidence that’s what’s going to happen. Maybe at some point in his life that might happen. Just like Tyson, it took him a long time. He was pretty old before he finally turned the corner. Conor might be the same guy.”
McGregor is considered one of UFC’s biggest fighters and is known for pulling the most PPV bouts. The fighter hasn’t been in a cage since losing to Dustin Poirier in 2021. He was scheduled to fight Michael Chandler this year but suffered a toe injury and had to withdraw from the fight.
