CONOR McGregor attracted the vitriol of WWE fans worldwide, and a host of replies from WWE stars past and present after he took aim at the stars of the squared circle last week.
And while some of the biggest names in pro wrestling queued up to slam the UFC champion’s comments, the Dubliner found an unlikely ally in the form of former WWE commentator Jim Ross, who said: “Bravo to Conor McGregor for using the correct ‘bait’ to catch naive and emotional ‘fish’ in his latest, entertaining rant.”
Writing on his blog, Ross said McGregor’s comments were “Nothing more than an attempt to create a buzz in advance of his next UFC PPV fight of which the Irishman can make a significant amount of cash based on the number of PPV buys that are purchased.”
While McGregor’s expletive-laden rant at the WWE’s stars attracted criticism, Ross praised the Dubliner for recognising his position and leveraging the star power of the WWE against his own notoriety to generate even more buzz ahead of his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
“McGregor has realized that his remarks are often times polarizing and they spread like wildfire,” he explained.
“He has become a great self-promoter of his fights and his own enhanced public persona, which is not meant to be an insult in any way.
“To the contrary, fans of pro wrestling should admire that McGregor is a talented talker like many of the pro wrestling greats in history and who knows how to stir up controversy which creates cash more often than not.”
And Ross even questioned those WWE superstars – including WWE legends Ric Flair and Kurt Angle, plus current star Roman Reigns – who took to social media to fire back at McGregor, saying they’d been played at their own game.
“It’s somewhat amusing and incredible that some wrestlers who definitely should have known better took McGregor’s bait, hook, line and sinker,” he observed.
“I’m curious if they now realize that they have been ‘worked’ in their own genre’s game?
And Ross, who admitted he had made the decision to buy the UFC 202 pay per view long before McGregor’s latest outburst, said ‘The Notorious’ one’s recent utterings simply follow in a long line of pro wrestling bad guys, or ‘heels’ as they’re known.
“The great ‘heels’ in pro wrestling had the ability to touch the raw nerves of the fan base aka consumers in such a way that those fans would pay hard earned cash to see these ‘heels’ get their asses handed to them in the ring or, in this case, the Octagon,” he explained.
“Insulted wrestling fans can live out this theory by buying McGregor’s next PPV fight against Nate Diaz who beat the talkative Irishman in their last battle.”
That would suit McGregor – and his bank balance – just fine.
Conor McGregor takes on Nate Diaz at UFC 202 on August 20 in Las Vegas. The event will be televised live in the UK on BT Sport.
Latest MMA stories
Leave a comment