UFC president Dana White believes that Conor McGregor's monstrous net worth could have played a part in his recent run of poor form in the octagon.
When McGregor made history by winning the lightweight title while still featherweight champion, he was one of the highest paid athletes the sport had ever seen. But he hit another stratosphere when he boxed Floyd Mayweather the following year, with a reported payout in the region of £100million arriving for his professional debut in the ring.
And ever since that bout with Mayweather, he has won just once amid a host of injuries, poor performances and outside-of-the-cage controversies. He has lost three times in that period, and is averaging less than a fight a year after suffering two major injuries including a broken leg last year.
White believes that McGregor may have lost his legendary tenacity, which included taking a number of short-notice replacement fights on the biggest stage. He ended up facing Chad Mendes instead of Jose Aldo in 2015, and moved up two weight classes to take on Nate Diaz the following year, but has since been unable to recapture that early glory.
"All the people on the outside didn't see the things that I saw," White told TSN of the Irishman. "Everybody's like 'yeah he loves Conor', but why do I love Conor? Because he makes money? Everybody makes money. I like Conor because I was in the trenches with Conor.
"I'd walk into the house that he rented in Vegas, tell him the fight was switched. Believe me, there are a lot of guys who talk about how they would have fought this guy or this and that. When I'm on the phone saying 'here we go, we've got four days and we're changing opponents', the stories change behind the scenes.
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"I was there every single time, never flinched, never hesitated. He'd take any fight. He believed in himself, and fought these fights when people thought he wasn't ready. And the kid made a ton of money. When you say Conor hasn't had a good run lately, that's what happens when you're his age and make over $100million. Money changes everything."
McGregor is currently on the comeback trail after suffering a gruesome broken leg at the hands of Dustin Poirier in July of last year. His progress has slowed in recent months, and a return date is still quite a bit away despite his claims on social media that the injury is a distant memory.
He has a number of options on the table for a return fight, and is planning to come back at welterweight, where he has won two fights and lost one thus far in the promotion. Should he get back in the world title picture, he could end up fighting for an unprecedented third world title.
