Matt Brown reacts to Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 injury dropout: ‘He’s not ever coming back’

UFC legend Matt Brown never had much faith that Conor McGregor would actually fight again, and that opinion has only been strengthened since the Irish superstar dropped out of his scheduled return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29.

An injury ultimately derailed McGregor’s plans, but there’s still no word on what exactly happened or when he might be able to compete again. That level of uncertainty only convinced Brown that much more that his original prediction about McGregor’s future is that much closer to coming true.

“I was never confident before that he would [come back],” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “It didn’t shock me when I saw he was out of this fight. No, I’m still on that same train — he’s not ever coming back.

“I say the same thing I said before, I hope he proves me wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I would like to see Conor fight again. I would like to see him do a real training camp with real training partners, push himself hard, go back to the great Conor that he was before. I would love to see that. I think a lot of people would love to see that. It’s not happening.”

When McGregor’s return date was first announced, Brown actually celebrated that the former two-division UFC champion was making his return after three years away.

Despite his hesitancy to believe McGregor was actually going to fight, Brown hoped to be wrong because ultimately he believes MMA to be a better place with McGregor around.

Sadly, as more and more time passes and delays in his return continue to multiply, Brown is just seeing too many red flags to buy into McGregor actually fighting again.

If anything, Brown says perhaps McGregor should abandon a future in the UFC and return to boxing, where there’s going to be far less wear and tear on his body.

“Notice I said ‘maybe he will prove me wrong,’ and I remember when you broke that news, the first thing I said is, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’” Brown said. “I said maybe he’ll prove me wrong, and that’s a maybe. I would still say the same thing. It just doesn’t make sense for him to fight again. If he’s going to fight again, it should be boxing. He doesn’t have to worry as much about the shin. I think most likely what’s going on here is the shin isn’t taking, the titanium or whatever kind of plate they put in there, isn’t taking and he’s having a hard time with it.

“It’s been three years. You shouldn’t have to recover from any injury for three years. I’m not convinced still that he’ll ever fight again with the UFC. Maybe he’ll do something else. If he does, I think it should be boxing. He’s not a bad boxer. He’s not going to compete with Floyd Mayweather ever, but he’s a decent boxer. He’s got some good matches out there, I think.”

Beyond the broken leg McGregor suffered in 2021 and the physical ailments that may still haunt him, Brown felt like the money “The Notorious” earned during his career would probably serve as the ultimate deterrent to another fight.

It’s the same reason UFC CEO Dana White continues to question whether or not McGregor will ever fight again, because financially speaking, the former two-division champ never has to do anything besides sit back and collect interest in his multi-millions in the bank.

“I’ve said it many times — why would he come back?” Brown stated. “He built a large majority of his net worth outside of the UFC. He’s already built his brand in the UFC. He doesn’t have anything to prove coming back to the UFC. Of course, it makes for a great story and his brand magnifies even more if he comes back and wins another championship. I don’t see that happening, you don’t see that happening, no one really sees that happening.

“Of course, if Conor really wants it and really secludes himself in a tough training camp and brings in some tough guys, I don’t put it past him. But how motivated are you going to be do that when you’ve got $500 million in the bank?”

Brown also pushes back against the notion that professional athletes in other sports make even more money than McGregor but remain active in their own careers.

From his perspective, Brown respects the skills it takes for LeBron James to play basketball, but James isn’t risking the same kind of permanent, life-altering injuries that potentially come along with fighting.

“These people that want to compare it to Kobe [Bryant] or LeBron James or whoever, ‘Oh they’ve got so much money but they keep playing!’ They’re playing f*cking basketball. Shut the f*ck up,” Brown said. “They’re really good at basketball. It’s not easy to be good at basketball, but it’s a completely different sport. You can’t compare.

“You don’t have to be a dog to be great at basketball. To be a world-class fighter, especially one with a name like Conor McGregor — like, Michael Chandler is going to come in like a f*cking dog, this is his f*cking time, this is his time to shine, this is his chance. For Conor McGregor, this is just another fight. It doesn’t carry the same significance in any way.”

That’s really where Brown disconnects from McGregor’s reason and motivation to fight again.

“He doesn’t have the same dog in him that he had before,” Brown said of McGregor. “Look, if Dustin Poirier made as much money as Conor, he’d probably lose some dog too. If you made that much money, would you be sitting here on this podcast right now? You might, but you wouldn’t give a f*ck about it. You see what I’m saying? You lose that when you make that much money. Most people do.”

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