Matt Brown: Conor McGregor caught in ‘sh*tstorm,’ and ‘UFC can’t save him’

It’s almost difficult to remember that just a few years ago Conor McGregor was one of the most popular and well-known athletes across the globe following a pair of fights against Nate Diaz, becoming the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history and putting on a megafight with Floyd Mayweather.

Those days seem long gone now with McGregor inactive in his fight career since 2021 and most of the biggest headlines attached to his name involve arrests, ugly accusations and even lawsuits. The latest incident is a jury in Ireland finding him liable for sexual assault after a lawsuit was filed against McGregor following allegations dating back to 2018.

While McGregor has maintained his innocence with plans to appeal the verdict, he’s once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons with no telling if he’ll ever turn things around.

“Conor’s going to be in a shitstorm here,” UFC legend Matt Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Obviously he’s going to be fined financially, I don’t think he’s got any problems there. But I think public wise, publicity wise, it’s going to hurt him for sure. It should.

“Whether he was convicted criminally or not, which you said we’re not going to get into, whether he actually did it or not, he was found civilly liable and the fact is he put himself in a situation where something like this could happen. Now, he’s got to pay the consequences for it. It should be publicly held accountable for it.”

It remains to be seen if McGregor’s appeal pays off or not but the court of public opinion has already largely ruled on him and his egregious behavior outside the cage.

While McGregor never exactly painted himself as an angel, sexual assault allegations are obviously quite serious and those are the kinds of accusations that don’t just magically go away.

“The public opinion of him has changed,” Brown said. “He never had that squeaky clean image like Tiger Woods did. He wasn’t that squeaky clean. We all knew he was kind of a wild man. But that kind of added to the allure. Like he’s a wild man, but he’s a respectable martial artist, he’s not going to do ‘that.’ Now he has crossed that line, at least according to a jury, he has crossed that line.

“There’s a group of people that are going to have a loss of respect for him and are not going to care as much about what he does or not want to be involved with what he’s doing. It has long-reaching effects.”

That said, Brown knows redemption isn’t out of the question for McGregor because there are examples of that happening in the past with prominent sports figures.

Perhaps the name at the top of that list is former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who was actually criminally convicted on rape charges in 1992 before serving three years in prison.

Following his release, Tyson returned to boxing but controversy still followed him while facing all sorts of issues in and out of the ring, most notably when he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a match in 1997 that earned him a disqualification loss and a ban from the ring.

While he’s never completely escaped his past, Tyson really became a beloved figure again in recent years through interviews, hosting his own podcast and even appearing on TV and films such as his famous cameo in The Hangover. Tyson’s continued popularity undoubtedly played a big part in his recent comeback fight against Jake Paul resulting in more than 100 million people tuning into watch the event on Netflix.

Brown can’t predict if McGregor could potentially follow a similar trajectory, but he knows it’s possible.

“I don’t think this is unsalvageable, but he has to be the one to salvage it,” Brown said. “No one’s going to be the one to save him in this situation. The UFC can’t save him. He has to do the right things. Get the f*ck out of the clubs. Put down the straws and get back in the gym. Maybe fighting isn’t what he wants to do anymore so maybe that’s not the right path, but I think it’s salvageable.

“If he comes out, and says ‘I learned a lot from this situation and I’m not putting myself in these types of situations anymore, I’m focusing on my family ... all that kind of stuff, says all the good things — people like to see a redemption story. People want people to be good people. We want Conor to do that, but he has to be the one to do it, though. It’s not going to happen by itself.”

While Brown has consistently touted his belief that McGregor would never fight again — long before the recent court trial ended — he really does hope the Irish superstar can make amends and get his life back on track.

Maybe that eventually means a return to the UFC, or perhaps McGregor just realizes how far he’s fallen, and he somehow becomes determined to resurrect his public image.

“I’m going to be cheering him on if he does that,” Brown said. “He straightens out his life, and he becomes a better person out of this whole scenario. I’m saying this with little confidence that’s what’s going to happen. Maybe at some point in his life that might happen. Just like Tyson, it took him a long time. He was pretty old before he finally turned the corner. Conor might be the same guy.”

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