No title fight, but Conor McGregor’s prestige will be on the line at UFC 264.

Earlier in the week, when the proposed trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier was still on its way to materializing, I posted a comment on social media that essentially said “for everything.”

Well, the comment upset some people: how could I say this fight is for everything when there is no UFC belt on the line? Some went so far as to say that nothing is on the line, because this fight to complete the trilogy is more about money than who is the best lightweight in the world. Poirier could have had a chance to fight for the belt, but he opted for the more lucrative payday against the biggest star in MMA history.

The reaction was fair, but I’ll tell you why the stakes are so high in this trilogy fight. The series is 1-1, and I don’t foresee a scenario where McGregor and Poirier fight again beyond UFC 264 on July 10. So as far as their rivalry goes, here’s everything.

Second, and perhaps of greater impact, it’s not unreasonable to say that the entire narrative of McGregor’s athletic career could be at stake in this trilogy fight.

At this point, what would we say about the fighter McGregor? Not the superstar. Not the entertainer or entertainer. If he were to retire right now, how would we define his sporting achievement?

To be clear, it’s a phenomenal run in the UFC. It’s a career that many, many martial arts practitioners can only dream of from a competitive standpoint, let alone the millions and millions of dollars McGregor has pocketed.
Here’s the question though, is this a career McGregor would have been happy with back in 2013 when he first joined UFC? If that McGregor is shown this resume, would he be satisfied? A sub-.500 record at lightweight. A slightly better record at welterweight, although those three fights, two against Nate Diaz and one against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, came against fighters who spent most of their careers at lightweight.

Would you have been satisfied with two UFC championships but not a single title defense? Would he have been satisfied knowing that one of his lightweight losses came against arch-nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov, who would go on to assert himself as the best lightweight in the world, while McGregor was technically active in that division?

I’m telling you, the 2013 version of McGregor would not have been happy. I would even venture to guess that he would view this resume as a failure, compared to his expectations.

And that probably sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it? But that has been, and continues to be, McGregor’s state of mind: that he is the best fighter on the planet. Even in defeat, whether to Diaz in 2016, Nurmagomedov in 2018, Poirier in 2021 and even when boxing Floyd Mayweather in 2017, McGregor has always handled setbacks well. Usually within hours of defeat, he identified the reasons for the loss and sought a rematch. Because the idea of someone being better than him has never sat well with him.

Even with an MMA record of 1-2 over the past three and a half years, McGregor still carries himself as the best fighter in the world, and there have been reasons, whether you subscribe or not, to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He took a year off to earn nine figures in a boxing match against Mayweather, something anyone would have done. He took on the monumental task of fighting Nurmagomedov in his first fight after that downtime, losing by submission in the fourth round. And he wanted to be active in 2020, but couldn’t due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. After beating Cerrone in 40 seconds on Jan. 18, 2020, McGregor didn’t fight again until a second-round knockout loss to Poirier last Jan. 23, after which McGregor said he can’t compete as a “part-time fighter.”

These may seem like excuses for McGregor’s defeats, but they are legitimate factors considering he is fighting the best in the world.

However, if McGregor loses to Poirier for a second straight time on July 10, there will be no silver lining. History will remember that Poirier was better. History will remember that McGregor asserted himself as the best featherweight in the world at the end of 2015, but he didn’t even have a winning record for the next five years.

He will have a lot of money and will be remembered as a superstar who changed the game, even though he experienced some legal troubles outside the cage. But he won’t be remembered as one of the best fighters. And I still sincerely believe that McGregor wants that for himself. So, in that sense, July 10 is everything.