This thread makes for very reflective viewing of the grand scale upon which Conor, and by proxy (almost) Khabib, operate on.
What it's done for Khabib has gone far beyond the sport now and I've seen chats away from this site between people who have zero interest in UFC or MMA talking about Khabib and supporting him for what they see as upholding their own pride as Muslims. He is now a cash cow in his own right off the back of this fight for wholly different reasons to Conor. Many Muslims will now, I believe, tune in just to follow Khabib as he is now essentially an avatar millions have latched on to.
I've seen three live chats in varying live rooms I've been in totally unrelated to sport with people who are part of those communities that I've known of (not as friends but sharing a common interest over a long period of time) enough to get to know their banter, and this is the first time I've ever seen them deviate from the usual, which is generally content specific to the particular room for the particular interest I am there for. Although I can't understand the text, as it's usually French, I see Khabib this and Khabib that and many words that are clearly praising him.
Much like how this thread still hasn't got back to normal post-fight, the same is going on across multiple fora and chatrooms still being flooded with Khabib and Conor talk. It's safe to say they have transcended their own sport and people are following the pair of them as individuals now and will, for the time being, be tuning in to watch either of them fight totally irrespective of who it's against. Of course, what this equates to is $$$$ for the UFC, and you can bet Dana's avarice is at an all time high as figures out how to maximise the profit from both Khabib's new fanbase and Conor's infamy to even further heights.
Khabib, for the time-being, will be untouchable, and I bet they will bow to his demands because they don't want all those potential earnings going elsewhere. The headline, and the elevation to martyred deity, writes itself if the UFC were to cut Khabib now - the warrior who stood by his principles and even forwent his fight purse and told the evil empire to stick it. That's a narrative that would take his new employees at Bellator to a transcendent level as an organisation and generate even more followers for Khabib.
This fight has been about more than just fighting in the octagon for quite some time now, and the next steps could take it even further off on a tangent should the UFC lose him. They're [UFC] many things, but they are not stupid, and greed and profiteering is paramount to them; they will be aware of all this and mete out the bare minimum punishments they can to make it look like they are doing something in the face of criticism for letting an event like this end in shambles.
I think the talk of PPV buys where Conor is the draw are now off the mark - Khabib is going to generate serious buys in his own right and if he is paired up with exciting fights (Ferguson or a Conor rematch) his earning potential via advertising it correctly, is going to explode. The UFC can now beam Khabib to millions upon millions of Muslims as a hero of the people - to their eyes, just another enormous market to capitalise off of, and it will work. The sport will, for a while, have many tuning in for no other reason than to support Khabib and that translates into serious $$$$$.
This thread is usually reserved for regulars with the odd interjection from other posters, but since the fight, it has been non-stop with practically the entire spotlight shone firmly on both fighters. I can't recall so many pages being taken up by a sole fight like this, and it shows how much interest there is in what's going on with both of these fighters. Even with a sullied ending, the UFC has once again managed to come out on top with anticipation of both fighters' next moves at what will be a career apex.
If we're looking at it from a purely money-making exercise, the immediate rematch is an absolute no-brainer and will make a lot more than the first did due to all the additional factors that will come about from the rematch. Ferguson is going to get shafted, as although he is the logical step and the missing link in all of this, pitting what are now two star earners for the organisation against each other in a story that just needs i's dotted and t's crossed, is just too easy and too great an opportunity for them to pass up.
