There has been endless speculation about Conor McGregor competing at UFC 300 in April, but while the superstar himself appears to be eager to make it happen, Chael Sonnen has been explaining why he thinks there’s no chance we see ‘The Notorious’ on the card.
“You know why Conor McGregor, the world’s biggest star, will not be fighting at UFC 300?” Sonnen asked on his YouTube Channel. “Do you know the answer as to why? [It] has nothing to do with USADA, has nothing to do with Michael Chandler, has nothing to do with Conor and his training. Do you know why? Because it’s not a title fight.”
“UFC 300 will be capped off with a world title. Likely on that card, there’s going to be three world titles but the last fight of the night will be a championship match. So if you put Conor on the card, it means he can’t be the main event.”
“If you took your biggest star and you placed him anywhere on a card but the main event, you have demoted your biggest star. That is why he can’t fight at UFC 300.”
While it’s not the thrust of Sonnen’s’ argument, another theory why McGregor may not be on UFC 300 is that it’s going to be a star-studded show that due to it’s historical significance is likely to be a big success anyway, regardless of whether he is part of the line-up.
As such, the UFC head honchos may instead prefer to keep their powder dry and have McGregor headline a pay-per-view after UFC 300, ensuring they get more bang for their buck from their highest-profile and highest-paid star.
That being said, with current champion’s like Sean O’Malley, Alexander Volkanovski and Sean Strickland already fronting up-coming UFC pay-per-views ahead of UFC 300 and Islam Makhachev potentially unavailable due to Ramadan, it still remains possible that the UFC may yet feel the pressure to bring McGregor in to ensure that the eagerly anticipated April event lives up to the hype.
