UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre has explained how the “Conor McGregor effect” changed MMA.
McGregor took the MMA world by storm as he was quickly rising up the ranks. His UFC debut was highly anticipated back in April 2013 and ever since stopping Marcus Brimage in the first round, his stardom continued to grow to levels few could’ve expected. McGregor’s rock star personality combined with his achievements, such as becoming the first fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously, led to him being a made man.
GSP thinks McGregor is the reason you see trash talk in MMA dialed up to 100 these days.
Georges St-Pierre On How Younger Fighters Can Gain Attention
During a recent seminar for Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA, Georges St-Pierre discussed what it is that draws fans to want to see a fight.
“I think what makes a fight more attractive it’s not only a question of skill,” GSP said. “Whether it’s in Muay Thai, martial arts, judo, or jiu-jitsu, I think it’s a question of emotion, and fights are promoted on emotion. A lot of people could disagree with me because they are purists. The reason why they watch a fight is to find out really who’s the best fighter, but most people they don’t watch a fight for the same reason as us. They watch a fight because, ‘Oh, this guy said this and he said this to him,’ so, they wanna see what’s gonna happen.”
“Conor McGregor Effect”
St-Pierre went on to explain how the “Conor McGregor effect” helped MMA. He also gave advice to young fighters who are thinking about following in his footsteps in terms of marketing.
“I think it’s the Conor McGregor effect, and Conor did a lot of great things for the sport because he brought the attention to a level that was never done before,” GSP said. “However, I believe if you wanna be attractive to an audience you need to stay authentic to who you are because if not, it shows.”
It’ll be interesting to look back on this to see if anyone takes GSP’s advice and becomes that special personality within MMA. More recently, some fighters have been criticized for not being true to themselves and just hurling personal insults to get a reaction.
Here is a video of the full Q&A:
