Conor McGregor

Conor Anthony McGregor (Irish: Conch??r Ant??in Mac Gr??ag??ir;[9] born 14 July 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial artist and fighter. He is the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight champion. As of 1 July 2019, he’s ranked #3 at the official UFC lightweight positions and #9 in the official UFC pound-for-pound ranks.
McGregor began his MMA career in 2008 as well as in 2012, he won both the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight Championships, holding both titles simultaneously before vacating them to sign together with the UFC. In 2015, at UFC 194, he conquered Jos?? Aldo to the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 seconds into the first round, that’s the quickest victory in UFC title fight history. Upon defeating Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205, McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to maintain titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.
McGregor began his professional boxing career in 2017. In his debut boxing match, he was conquered by Floyd Mayweather Jr.He is the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw in MMA history, with headlined five from those six highest-selling UFC pay-per-view occasions. His headline bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov in UFC 229 attracted 2.4 million PPV buys, the most ever for an MMA event. His boxing game with Mayweather drew 4.3 million PPV purchases in North America, the second most in history.On 9 March 2008, McGregor had his first professional MMA bout, as a lightweight, defeating Gary Morris using a second-round TKO. Following McGregor won his second fight against Mo Taylor, he left his featherweight debut in a reduction via entry against Artemij Sitenkov. After a victory at featherweight in his next bout against Stephen Bailey, McGregor considered another career path prior to his mother contacted his trainer John Kavanagh and reinvigorated him to keep on pursuing mixed martial arts. [25]
McGregor then won his next fight, also at featherweight, against Connor Dillon, before moving back to lightweight to get a struggle against Joseph Duffy, where he obtained his second expert reduction after submitting to an arm-triangle choke. After this, throughout 2011 and 2012, McGregor went to an eight-fight winning streak,[26] during which he won both the CWFC Featherweight and Lightweight championships, making him the first European professional mixed martial artist to carry titles in two divisions simultaneously. In February 2013, UFC president Dana White made a trip to Dublin, Ireland to receive a Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College and was inundated with requests to sign McGregor into the UFC. Following a meeting with McGregor, and speaking with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, White offered him a contract later.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2013–present)
2013
UFC debut In February 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that they had signed McGregor into a multi-fight contract. [27] In linking, McGregor became just the second fighter from Ireland to compete for the company, after fellow SBG team member Tom Egan.
On April 2013, McGregor made his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage on the first card card of UFC on Fuel TV: Mousasi vs. Latifi. [28] Brimage began the fight aggressively, meeting McGregor in the middle of the octagon before starting a flurry of strikes to push him . McGregor, repeatedly throwing a counter left hand, found little success with his initial striking. After discovering that Brimage was vulnerable to a snap kick directed at his chest and chin, McGregor began to apply a looping left hand uppercut, throwing every single time Brimage would proceed forwards into striking range. All these uppercuts grounded Brimage soon after McGregor began to utilize them. The bout was stopped 1:07 into the first round. [29] The win also earned McGregor his first”Knockout of the Night” award. [30]
McGregor was expected to confront Andy Ogle on 17 August 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26, but Ogle pulled from the bout citing an accident and has been replaced by Max Holloway. [31] McGregor bewildered Holloway with his unusual boxing technique, and his incorporation of a wide array of taekwondo kicks, many of which aren’t used in MMA to a substantial degree. McGregor was able to control the striking range by using extended, non-committal low side kicks to Holloway’s knee and knee, and initiate mixes by jumping in with bike and switch kicks. After the battle was brought to the floor, McGregor maintained top hands, performing various positional advances, and mitigating his competitor’s exemptions on the ground. [32] McGregor won the fight by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–26). After the bout with Holloway, an MRI study showed that McGregor had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the bout and might require surgery, keeping him out of action for up to ten weeks. [33]
2014
Return after trauma McGregor was expected to confront Cole Miller on 19 July 2014 in UFC Fight Night 46 within his comeback bout after recovering from his ACL injury. [34] However, Miller pulled from the bout mentioning a thumb injury and was replaced by Diego Brand??o. [35] McGregor battled Brand??o facing a loud, rowdy crowd of 9,500 at The O2 in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. McGregor started the fight with a touch spinning side kick, before finding his range and successfully landing various taekwondo kicks, and left counters. Brand??o, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, attempted to instigate two takedowns, so he could make use of his grappling pedigree, but both efforts were averted by McGregor. Nonetheless, much of the fight was spent on ground, as McGregor achieved a takedown 1:20 to the bout. When the fight returned to the toes in the next minute, McGregor began to employ his left hand cross, and began to cut the cage. Brand??o, trapped between the octagon and McGregor, dropped to his side after being struck by the other left hand crossover as the struggle went into its fourth second. [36][37] The battle has been officially halted by referee Leon Roberts at 4:05 of the first round. The win earned McGregor his first”Performance of the Night” award. [38]
Before his next bout, McGregor met with Lorenzo Fertitta and signed up a fresh multi-fight contract with the UFC. McGregor next faced Dustin Poirier on 27 September 2014 at UFC 178. [39] The bout was among the most anticipated fights on the UFC 178 card, with McGregor and Poirier two of just four men involved in the pre-fight media conference, alongside the initially scheduled headliners Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. [40] Part of this expectancy stemmed from the challenge that the match-up posed: Poirier was McGregor’s first competitor ranked in the UFC’s top ten featherweights. [41][42] Despite McGregor landing 9 significant strikes on Poirier’s 10, he managed to secure a victory early in the first round, by pushing Poirier on his rear foot, before bursting with a left hook behind Poirier’s ear, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in. The end officially came at 1:46 to the first round. [43][44] This marked Poirier’s initial UFC loss via KO/TKO, also got McGregor his second straight”Performance of the Night” award. [45] From the post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan, McGregor mentioned the UFC Featherweight Championship as his second target from the organisation, saying that”If [the UFC] want, I’ll eliminate Chad Mendes and step in and give the fans exactly what they need; Aldo vs. McGregor.”

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