The Takedown | UFC: Conor McGregor faces make-or-break year in 2021 with time running out to regain glory
- The 33-year-old former two-weight champ might only have a few fights left in the tank while he is still in his prime
- After false dawn in 2020, ‘Notorious’ simply cannot afford defeat by Dustin Poirier at UFC 257
Nobody had a better start to 2020 than Conor McGregor.
“Notorious” put on a clinic at UFC 246 in January against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. It took the Irish superstar all of 40 seconds to demolish his opponent. McGregor, who busted out his trademark “Billionaire Strut”, was back with a vengeance and ready to take the MMA world by storm once again in 2020.
The potential fights were being thrown out a mile a minute, and it looked like 2020 could be a banner year for the UFC and the UFC’s marquee star.
Then a global pandemic, and a squabbling war of words between McGregor and UFC president Dana White, which included McGregor “retiring” via a Twitter post with photo of a cake, was all we got for the rest of the year when it comes to the sport’s most recognisable and bankable star.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s absolute thrashing of Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, and subsequent retirement announcement, added another wrinkle to the McGregor comeback parade. Many believe White was salivating at the chance of having a lucrative grudge match between the two to settle a long-standing feud that has only festered with time.
