THE BIGGEST BOUT of his career is only five days away, but Joseph Duffy won’t be able to avoid questions about a fight that happened five years ago throughout this week.
Duffy will make his UFC debut against Jake Lindsey in Dallas on Saturday night. He arrived in Texas yesterday, in the knowledge that the US media will be focusing predominantly on his 2010 win against Conor McGregor over the coming days.
During a recent discussion on the Setanta MMA Show, I was asked by host Fergus Ryan if the repeated references to that submission of McGregor were unfair to Joseph Duffy. You’re unlikely to read a sentence, let alone an entire article, about Duffy nowadays that doesn’t also mention McGregor. We’re as guilty of that as anyone else here at The42.
After all, Duffy is an outstanding athlete and martial artist in his own right, so is it reasonable to take the spotlight away from his own achievements and ambitions by focusing it on a 38-second sequence of events that happened so long ago?
Rightly or wrongly, it’s been an extremely useful promotional tool for the 27-year-old lightweight. That he defeated McGregor in the early stages of their careers means little for Duffy’s future as a fighter — or McGregor’s — but if you defeated Conor McGregor in school at a game of conkers, you should make sure it’s on your CV.
The Dublin featherweight is the most exciting athlete in MMA today, so being the last man to beat him is significant for your reputation, if not necessarily for your future prospects in the Octagon. But that reputation can help to accelerate Duffy’s planned ascent in the UFC.
I’ve seen Duffy criticised for not shying away from answering questions about McGregor during interviews but, again, we in the media are to blame for that. It would be naive of him not to avail of that particular aspect of his record, and in any case he’s merely displaying the same honesty and openness with the media that McGregor is regularly, and rightly, praised for.
Duffy has been signed by the UFC because he’s got the ability to make a big impact there, but having the McGregor win on his resumè was a significant factor too. The UFC have mentioned it in all of their press references to Duffy thus far, and you can expect even more of that as the week goes on.
Having taken a break from mixed martial arts to temporarily pursue a career in boxing, Duffy returned to MMA last year. There was just a five-month gap between his first MMA fight in three years and his move to the UFC. Being signed by the promotion was only a matter of time, but his links to Conor McGregor certainly sped up the process.
The McGregor selling-point was also utilised by Cage Warriors Fighting Championship to publicise Duffy’s 2014 comeback. As a result, the organisation was covered by several US media outlets that had seldom done so previously.
Conor McGregor’s biggest detractors have pointed to his loss to Duffy, more than anything else, to justify their doubts about him. But that’s flimsy logic. There’ll be question marks until he wins a UFC title — perhaps afterwards too — and that’s fine, but any credible analysis of a fighter requires more than a brief glance at their record.
McGregor had five professional MMA bouts behind him when he encountered Duffy. He lost the fight on the ground because, at the time, he was a boxer who took the occasional jiu-jitsu class. Four years of training daily under one of the world’s leading coaches later, McGregor has progressed to brown-belt level and the improvements in his grappling are obvious — defensively in particular. There’s a reason nobody has been able to successfully take him down since.
Athletes evolve through maturity and experience. He’s the world’s most expensive footballer now, but Gareth Bale played 24 games for Tottenham before being on the winning side for the club, and he was second-choice to Benoit Assou-Ekotto for a while too.
There are countless examples of athletes who made it to the top after encountering speed-bumps along the way. Similarly, Duffy is also now a much-improved and changed fighter, having added a stint as a professional boxer to his ledger.
When you get to the top, it comes with the territory that you’re used as a barometer. That’s the position McGregor now occupies. It may be irritating to be regularly reminded of your last defeat, but he should see it as indicative of how far he’s come that a win over him, as old as it is, generates so much discussion.
Luciano Azevedo is known for being the only man to defeat Jose Aldo, but we doubt the reigning UFC featherweight champion loses sleep over it. And neither should McGregor. He’s now at the summit of the sport, and it will take Duffy a couple of years, at least, to join him there.
“How good is Duffy?”
“Well, he beat McGregor.”
It’s a conversation you come across regularly these days among the new generation of Irish MMA fans. And to use that line isn’t to suggest that Duffy is the superior fighter. It’s simply one example of Duffy’s enormous potential and the heights he can aspire to.
Examining what might happen were the pair to fight again is, of course, hypothetical and therefore pointless. From the fans’ perspective, it could indeed be a fascinating contest. But as an Irishman, my preference is to see our small number of UFC representatives carve out their own individual paths to the top, instead of seeing one get ahead at the expense of another.
Now that Duffy is in the UFC, the ‘what if?’ discussions can stop. McGregor is where he wants to be. Duffy now has the same opportunity and platform to replicate his former opponent’s success and prove that he’s worthy of such high levels of expectation.
Duffy revealed to The42 on Friday that he’s considering joining McGregor in the featherweight division, which it was assumed would increase the likelihood of a rematch. Ironically, if McGregor’s plans come to fruition, it will actually do the opposite. ‘The Notorious’ expects to be the UFC’s lightweight champion by the time Duffy could realistically make his way into featherweight title contention.
But for this weekend at least, Duffy is still a lightweight and his thoughts will be on Saturday night’s UFC debut in Dallas. Tune in and watch… not because he’s beaten Conor McGregor, but because he’s a superb martial artist and one of the most likely Irish fighters to follow in McGregor’s footsteps by competing for a UFC title.
Duffy wants to make a name for himself in the UFC on his own terms, and a win might signal the end of the constant links with McGregor. Or perhaps they’re only just beginning.
But we’re certain Joseph Duffy’s name is one the Irish public and MMA fans worldwide will soon be more familiar with… because of fights that have yet to happen, instead of those that already have.
