After announcing one of many retirements a few weeks ago, the former UFC Featherweight Champion and UFC Lightweight Champion double champ Conor Mcgregor has been training hard in preparations for a UFC return since his suspension from what took place last October at UFC 229. Many are expecting the #3 ranked Lightweight in the division to take on #4 ranked Lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in a bout that has been long awaited by everyone.
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is coming off a spectacular performance over Al Iaquinta at UFC Fight Night 151 in a fight he won by unanimous decision. Al Iaquinta was dropped a few times throughout the fight including a nasty front kick to the face from "Cowboy" Cerrone that was a kick to remember. Since moving back to the Lightweight division, Cowboy has 2 wins with 2 dominant performances with one of those performances was the TKO victory over Alexander Hernandez.
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone has continued to express his interest in a fight with "The Notorious" Conor Mcgregor in post-fight interviews and media days. Conor Mcgregor has also continued to express interest in fighting Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone on social media regardless of his so-called retirement. The seed was planted way back during a press conference were "Cowboy" Cerrone and Conor Mcgregor exchanged verbal jabs at one another. On Joe Rogan's podcast, Donald Cerrone who was guest revealed that left him fuming as he was angry with Mcgregor but essentially did not want to get out of his comfort zone of getting out of character due to Mcgregor's shenanigans.
It seemed like the fight was off after news first surfaced that negotiations for the fight fell through on the side of Mcgregor. Everyone is fully aware of while the UFC is pretty much full-time partners with ESPN; it is not necessarily the best for fighters when it comes to fighter salaries and the pay per view numbers. Conor Mcgregor has continued to protest that he deserves a percentage of the company. While honestly it would be deserved at the end of the day it is nonsense as there would be plenty of fighters that would deserve equity in the company. Everyone is aware of the success of "The Notorious" Conor Mcgregor's success with his Proper Irish Whiskey company as he raked in over a close to $1 billion as it has really taken off.
While everyone is ready to do what they have to do it seems like it always falls on Conor Mcgregors lap when it comes to the money situation and negotiations. Recently, the UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier was in a situation like this with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar as the fight was essentially booked but the UFC could not come to terms with Lesnar due to the finances. While Lesnar knows what is going on with ESPN being the holder of UFC PPV's he wanted a flat out pay for the fight. This could very well be what is taking place with the "Notorious" Conor Mcgregor who is coming off of a loss to the current UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
