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16th Feb 2017

Conor McGregor meets up with old friend in Las Vegas and it is hard to tell who is more ripped

Not bad for a 49 year old

Patrick McCarry

Back in December 2015, not long after Conor McGregor dusted Jose Aldo in 13 seconds, Lorenzo Fertitta predicted the Dubliner would become the UFC’s ‘first 100 millionaire’.

The pair enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship and there always seemed to be a fondness shown by Fertitta towards the fighter.

Fertitta, a former owner of the UFC, sold his sizeable stake in the promotion and is now, comfortably, a billionaire. He has steered clear of the UFC since that $4.2bn transaction but he may not necessarily be out of the fight game.

McGregor met up with Fertitta in Las Vegas on Wednesday and accompanied an Instagram post with these words:

“I came up under Lorenzo Fertitta and the Fertitta regime.

“Nobody in the history of the fight game has come up as fast and as young as I have. I now, at 28 years of age, have my eyes firmly set on the ‘highest paid fighter’ and ‘highest earning athlete’ accolades.

“Understand and respect what you are witnessing here. Because not one of you can do nothing to stop it.”

One of the remarkable take-aways from the image of the pair – apart from the eyeball art-work – is the superb shape Fertitta is in. At 49-years-old, the Nevada native is certainly looking after himself.

While we were distracted by that image, others were busy putting speculating on what the meeting could have been about. Fertitta, of course, was a former commissioner on the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who McGregor would need for approval of any boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Fertitta made his name as a man who made fights happen in Las Vegas. He still knows the in, outs and main players in both the boxing and MMA worlds.

The pair could have been discussing a co-promotional agreement or Fertitta could have been offering advice on how to work through the minefield of fight promotions and legislative red tape.

There is another possibility that both men could have been meeting up to toast all the good business they were responsible for from 2013 to 2016. It was one hell of a ride.