If they weren't already, Dana White and the rest of the UFC's top brass must be kissing the ground that Conor McGregor walks on. His critics may be less than delighted with his claims that he's changing the game everyday, but when you look at the realities of the situation, it's difficult to argue with him.
MMA was doing a fairly good job of breaking into new audiences before McGregor came along but there's no doubt that he's expedited the process over the past couple of years. Having transformed the featherweight division, McGregor is looking to do the same with as many weight classes as he can, and he doesn't even need to fight.
The featherweight division had ample quality before McGregor came along, as does the lightweight division. But it's so much more than fighting ability that McGregor brings and now he's bringing some of that magic to the heavyweight division.
Having told the entire UFC roster that he's putting in the work 'to keep every one of you fed', the Dubliner has gone about proving it this week by bringing some much needed casual attention to the heavyweight division. If they can't get a rivalry going themselves, then just draft in McGregor even though it makes no sense whatsoever and get him to bring a bit of profile to the champ, Fabricio Werdum.
That may sound a bit WWE-esque, but there's no doubt whatsoever that the 'feud' between the featherweight and the heavyweight champ is playing right into the UFC's wallet, or at least it will be when Werdum defends his title again.
Case in point, Rio Ferdinand introducing the Brazilian to over 6 million new fans who never would have heard of him before. As we've seen, Werdum channeled his inner Carlos Tevez on Monday by showing Conor McGregor what he's do to him in fairly stark detail, to do that he used everyone's favourite picture of Rio Ferdinand.
Now, the former Man United defender has decided to stick his oar in, letting everyone know he's firmly in McGregor's corner.
Sort this fella out @TheNotoriousMMA otherwise guna have to enter the ring 👊🏽😂 https://t.co/jfxLvyM3l1
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) February 8, 2016
So fecking what?
It may just be Rio Ferdinand saying something fairly innocuous but in reality, it's about as good an example as you can get as to why McGregor is the most valuable man in MMA. He's made such a name for himself that he can massively increase the profile of someone who should be able to do that for himself.
Real fans will suggest that's absolutely ludicrous and it shows no knowledge of the heavyweight division but the reality of the situation is that the UFC don't care about the fans they already have, they care about the fans they could have. Now they've found a way to tap into that fan base and you better believe they're going to use it, even if it means pushing an entirely nonsensical spat between the featherweight and the heavyweight champ by way of Rio Ferdinand. It's just good business at the end of the day.
