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 boxer. He’s the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight winner. As of 1 July 2019, he’s ranked #3 in the official UFC lightweight rankings and #9 in the official UFC pound-for-pound ranks.
McGregor started his MMA career in 2008 and, in 2012, he won both the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight Championships, holding both titles concurrently before vacating them to sign with the UFC. In 2015, in UFC 194, he defeated Jos?? Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 seconds into the first round, which is 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 hold titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.
McGregor started his professional boxing career in 2017. In his introduction boxing match, he had been defeated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.He is the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw MMA history, with headlined five out of the six highest-selling UFC pay-per-view events. His headline bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 attracted 2.4 million PPV buys, the most ever for an MMA event. His boxing match with Mayweather drew 4.3 million PPV purchases in North America, the second most in history.On 9 March 2008, McGregor had his first pro MMA bout, as a lightweight, beating Gary Morris using a second-round TKO. Following McGregor won his second battle against Mo Taylor, he made his featherweight debut in a loss via entry against Artemij Sitenkov. Following a victory at featherweight in his next bout against Stephen Bailey, McGregor contemplated a different career path before his mother contacted his trainer John Kavanagh and reinvigorated him to continue pursuing mixed martial arts. [25]
McGregor then won his second fight, too at featherweight, against Connor Dillon, before going back to lightweight to get a fight against Joseph Duffy, where he obtained his next expert loss after submitting to an arm-triangle choke. After this, throughout 2011 and 2012, McGregor went on an eight-fight winning series,[26] during which he won both the CWFC Featherweight and Lightweight championships, making him the first European professional mixed martial artist to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously. Back in February 2013, UFC president Dana White chose to Dublin, Ireland to Be Given a Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College and has been 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 introduction In February 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that they had signed McGregor to some multi-fight contract. [27] In joining, McGregor became just the second fighter from Ireland to compete to the firm, after fellow SBG team member Tom Egan.
On 6 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 launching a flurry of strikes to push him . McGregor, repeatedly throwing a counter left hand, found little success with his first striking. After ascertaining that Brimage was susceptible to a snap kick directed at his chest and torso, McGregor began to employ a looping left hand uppercut, throwing each time Brimage would proceed forward into striking variety. These uppercuts grounded Brimage shortly after McGregor began to utilize them. The bout was stopped 1:07 to the first round. [29] The win also earned McGregor his initial”Knockout of the Night” award. [30]
McGregor was anticipated to face Andy Ogle on 17 August 2013 in UFC Fight Night 26, but Ogle pulled out of this bout citing an injury and has been replaced by Max Holloway. [31] McGregor bewildered Holloway with his unusual boxing strategy, and his incorporation of a wide array of taekwondo kicks, many of which are not utilized in MMA to some substantial level. McGregor was able to restrain the striking range using extended, non-committal low side kicks to Holloway’s knee and shin, and initiate mixes by jumping with switch and bicycle kicks. When the battle was brought into the ground, McGregor maintained top hands, performing different 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 scan showed that McGregor had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) throughout the bout and would require surgery, keeping him out of action for up to ten weeks. [33]
2014
Return after injury McGregor was expected to confront Cole Miller on 19 July 2014 at UFC Fight Night 46 within his comeback bout after recovering from his ACL injury. [34] However, Miller pulled from this bout mentioning a thumb injury and was replaced by Diego Brand??o. [35] McGregor battled Brand??o in front of a loud, rowdy crowd of 9,500 in The O2 in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. McGregor started the struggle with a signature spinning side kick, before finding his range and successfully landing various taekwondo kicks, and left hand counters. Brand??o, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black buckle, tried to instigate two takedowns, so he could take advantage of his grappling pedigree, but both efforts were avoided by McGregor. Nonetheless, much of the struggle was spent on ground, as McGregor achieved a takedown 1:20 to the bout. When the fight returned to the feet in the next minute, McGregor began to employ his left hand cross, and began to cut off the cage. Brand??o, trapped between the octagon and McGregor, dropped to his side after being struck with another left hand crossover as the fight went to its fourth second. [36][37] The fight was formally 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 in UFC 178. [39] The bout was one of the most anticipated fights on the UFC 178 card, together with McGregor and Poirier just 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 anticipation stemmed in the challenge that the match-up introduced: Poirier was McGregor’s first competitor ranked in the UFC’s top ten featherweights. [41][42] Despite McGregor landing 9 significant strikes to Poirier’s 10, he managed to secure a victory early in the first round, by pushing Poirier onto his rear foot, before bursting with a left hook supporting Poirier’s ear, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in. The end officially came at 1:46 into the first round. [43][44] This marked Poirier’s first UFC loss via KO/TKO, and got McGregor his second straight”Performance of the Night” award. [45] In the post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan, McGregor mentioned the UFC Featherweight Championship as his next goal in the organisation, saying that”If [the UFC] want, I’ll eliminate Chad Mendes and step in and give the fans what they need; Aldo vs. McGregor.”
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