McGregor Chaos, A Good Thing For The UFC?

Chaos, according to Greek mythology, was the beginning of everything. It was creation. It evolved into the term Chaoskampf, a German word that is a central theme in many of the world’s great legends and myths. It’s the struggle against the chaotic, often depicted as a battle between a cultural hero and a chaos monster.

When Conor McGregor, the undisputed PPV king and UFC featherweight champion of the world, tweeted that he had retired he sent MMA along with the rest of the sporting world into disarray.

Since that tweet – the most retweeted by any athlete this year – the UFC and McGregor have gone back and forth with statements and counterstatements.

There have been deadlines missed and compromised laden olive branches brushed aside. Chaos.

The MMA gods, much like their ancient predecessors, love controlled anarchy. It generates intrigue, it focuses the collective mind and it creates massive awareness of an event. Bottom line, chaos = cash. Lots of cash.

One glance at the empty chair at the UFC 200 press conference tells you all you need to know about their love of chaos. Dana White might have got slightly tired of talking about the gigantic dollar bill shaped elephant in the room but it was still mighty nice of them to leave a comfortable place at the top table for him.

Since he exploded onto the UFC scene, McGregor has set himself up as the chaos monster. Ripping through the 145lb division as much with his tongue as his fists. He has implemented a scorched earth policy of promoting himself and his fights. His fellow fighters viewed the brash talking Dubliner with amusement at first. That amusement turned to resentment, the resentment to dislike. As the chaos monster morphed into the cash monster, a clash with its creator always looked on the cards.

That clash duly arrived just days before the press juggernaut for 200 began to pick up steam. The retirement tweet did not sit well with his fellow competitors. MMA fighters, especially those under the Zuffa umbrella, are not an overtly loyal bunch. A quick look at Twitter after major breaking news often shows fighters taking particular delight in the setbacks suffered by others.

McGregor’s tweet was no exception.

But then something odd happened. When the McGregor statement landed on his Facebook page there appeared to be a sea change in attitudes amongst some fighters. “I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote”, stroke a cord with many fighters. Certainly Rory MacDonald agreed. The popular Canadian also finds himself locked in a contract stand-off with the UFC over his value and was keen to back his fellow fighter.

Martial artists could relate to a fellow competitor wanting to concentrate on the art of fighting. Here was a fighter at the top of the game taking a stand. Here was Conor McGregor transforming before our eyes from the chaos monster of the Chaoskampf theory into the cultural hero.

Now the questions remain, can he walk the line between both worlds? Can he coexist as both a chaos monster and a cultural hero? On Sunday night he tweeted that he was back on UFC 200. The promotion of the event, arguably the first viral promotion of a combat sport event ever, has gone into overdrive again. The UFC have yet to officially respond.

The confusion of the past week might just turn into the biggest cash windfall in MMA history.

Perhaps chaos truly is the creation of everything.

Article by new contributor Shane Curtis – @Curta2011