What’s the story?
Conor McGregor will be live on pay-per-view (PPV) on January 28th, 2017. However, this time, it won’t be in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight. Instead, McGregor is all set to feature in an hour-long, no-holds-barred interview with well-known MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) phenom and outspoken fighter will speak about his past, present and future life happenings; all on PPV. The event hosts ‘An Experience With’, have undertaken this opportunity to allow MMA fans and even the casual combat sports viewers to get an all-inclusive peek, into the life of the ‘Notorious’.
The British company has teamed up with ‘Writemedia’ in order to ensure that fans of McGregor can enjoy this experience throughout different digital platforms, including mobile phones, tablets, computer, TV sets as well as others.
Stephen Oleksewycz, the Managing Director at An Experience With, stated that Conor McGregor is a global Superstar and regardless of whether the audience, are sports fans or not, this event has the potential of being a global phenomenon.
He went on to state that the aim of an event of such brouhaha is to change the face of chat shows, as we know them. The event featuring McGregor can be viewed on any digital platform for the price of 3.99 British pounds.
In case you didn’t know...
Conor McGregor (21-3) is the current UFC Lightweight (LW/155 pound) champion of the world. He has also previously held the UFC Featherweight (FW/145 pound) title in the past. McGregor is the only Irish person to be included in the Forbes’ famous 30 under 30 list for Europe this year.
‘Notorious’, who is known for making money with every punch, pocketed a cool $3 million in his August 2016 fight against arch rival Nate Diaz. The event organisers An Experience With have previously hosted events with well-known stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Al Pacino, among others.
The event with McGregor is, reportedly, all set to take place inside a makeshift nightclub in an arena in Manchester, England. As opposed to the hefty price tag of McGregor’s UFC fights, this PPV featuring ‘Notorious’ is available live, only for a meagre 3.99 British pounds.
The heart of the matter
According to UFC President Dana White, McGregor is on a 10-month paternity leave from the Octagon.
McGregor, on his part, has not given an exact date of his return to MMA. Since early 2016, rumours have been rife that McGregor, a fighter under contract with the UFC, is trying to strike a deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0 boxing), in order to face ‘Money’ Mayweather inside the professional boxing ring.
White, on his part, is quick to keep shooting down such reports, stating that the only way Mayweather vs. McGregor happens is if the UFC allows it to.
Mayweather famously earned the richest purse in the history of professional boxing when he took on Manny Pacquiao in May of 2015. ‘Money’ pocketed a cool $100 million for his fight against Pacquiao.
Furthermore, in his 49th professional bout against Andre Berto, Mayweather earned a fight purse of $32 million. McGregor, too, is no stranger to big fight purses, although not on the level of Mayweather. However, McGregor, at the age of 28, has been in several multi-million dollar grossing, blockbuster fights inside the Octagon.
The upcoming feature interview of McGregor seems to be focusing on this potential mega-fight, as well as several other personal and professional storylines in the life of Conor McGregor.
What’s next?
As of now, McGregor is prepping for his January 28th appearance on The Experience With, alongside Ariel Helwani. McGregor’s interview is being promoted as a non-scripted, gloves-off style of one-on-one conversation.
The only catch of this heart-to-heart conversation between McGregor and Helwani is that it will be broadcasted all around the globe for fans to see.
The year 2016 was a crazy ride for McGregor. After winning the UFC FW title from Jose Aldo in December of 2015, McGregor would fight late-replacement opponent Nate Diaz, at UFC 196, getting submitted, in the process. He would, eventually, avenge this loss to Diaz by rebounding with a Majority Decision win over the Stockton bad boy, at UFC 202.
McGregor would then go on to headline the UFC’s first New York Card, UFC 205, and win the UFC LW title from Eddie Alvarez. Now, the way 2017 seems to be starting out for ‘Notorious’, it’s safe to say that 2017 will be as crazy or crazier than the previous year for McGregor.
McGregor’s upcoming PPV interview will be attended, in person, by several VIP guests from various walks of life. Many of the said guests, as of now, are reportedly, Hollywood icons and European cinema superstars.
Sportskeeda’s take:
McGregor is a bonafide mainstream Superstar. He is on an extended absence from the UFC, owing to the birth of his first child he is expecting with partner Dee Devlin. Although he seems to be going through his routine MMA training, as of late, the multitude of reports point towards McGregor facing Mayweather inside the professional boxing ring.
Whether or not that happens will be revealed in the next few weeks.
This upcoming PPV interview seems to be some kind of obvious promotional angle on the part of McGregor and his PR team. We can, in fact, expect some kind of announcement at this event regarding the elephant in the room. That being, the Mayweather vs. McGregor mega-fight.
Regardless of what Dana White says, with the humongous amount of money involved for all parties in the May-Mac proposition, it’s safe to assume that Mayweather vs. McGregor will absolutely take place in the near future.
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