Conor McGregor almost became the next chapter of a worrying UFC trend. For a long time now, fans have bashed how the UFC pits aging legends against young up-and-comers in retirement fights, or how they give over-the-hill superstars much younger dominant opponents. Remember how Nate Diaz’s last fight was supposed to be Khamzat Chimaev? Now, Anthony Smith claims the UFC almost did the same to McGregor for wanting to fight out his contract and not renew it.

“I wasn’t going to go there, but if he doesn’t resign, or they’re suspecting he’s not going to resign… They’re going to send him off valueless. That’s just the [expletive] game, bro. ,” Smith said in a Submission Radio interview. ” 

Interview host Denis Shkuratov brought up the UFC offering McGregor a showdown against Carlos Prates to decode Smith’s words. 

“When he admitted, they mentioned Carlos Prates for his return, I was like, yep, they’re trying to basically kill the guy before he gets to Netflix, right? Shkuratov said. “They’re trying to devalue him as much as possible.”   

Conor McGregor has two fights left on his UFC contract. He has agreed to fight Max Holloway at UFC 329 on July 11, after which he will have just one fight remaining with the promotion. After that one, ‘The Notorious’ would be a free agent.

McGregor told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview that the UFC didn’t actually extend his contract and instead only adjusted the financial terms under the Paramount+ broadcasting deal.  He also claimed that the UFC offered him Carlos Prates as his comeback opponent, which the 37-year-old claimed was meant to scare him back to fight at 155 lbs. But McGregor accepted it, and the promotion ultimately opted for Holloway instead at 170 lbs. 

The Irishman stands at 5’9″ with a 74-inch reach, while the 32-year-old Brazilian towers over him at 6’3″ with a 78-inch reach. Given those advantages, Shkuratov indicated here that a loss to Prates would probably have lowered the Irishman’s stock by the time he exited his UFC contract. Smith praised the Submission Radio host for decoding the game.  

 Smith added. “You do such a good job of reading between the lines and really not necessarily always listening to what people say, but seeing how they act. I don’t know, you just see the sport, the game, and the industry for what it actually is… I was so glad you said that because it’s so true.” 

Now, when it comes to McGregor’s clash with Carlos Prates, Chael Sonnen also shared his opinion about the match. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, ‘The Bad Guy’ revealed it would be a “bad idea” to pit the Irishman against Prates, minding the difference in activity and size between them. But Sonnen didn’t say anything about the UFC deliberately trying to hurt McGregor’s value.  

That said, what the UFC has in store for McGregor’s future will only become clear if he gets past Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329.