What Will Conor McGregor’s Legacy Be?
Saturday, 10 July will be a seminal one for UFC fans, as the iconic Conor McGregor does battle with lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in the pair’s trilogy fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada.
Of course, McGregor will be looking to reclaim his former title and claim a decisive victory over his rival, having lost the second bout by way of technical knockout (this is the first time that McGregor has ever lost via this method in his career).
You can check out the best odds on the bout at www.mybettingsite.uk, but in this article, we’ll ask what bearing the outcome will have on McGregor’s fighting legacy.
Conor’s Career to Date – An Overview
Despite two defeats in his opening six UFC bouts, McGregor secured 15 consecutive wins while unifying the Featherweight Championship with an incredible, 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo on December 12th, 2015.
This run even included an initial win over next opponent Poirier, who was defeated by way of a devastating first round knockout in Nevada.
While some would argue otherwise, the outstanding win against Aldo almost certainly represented the zenith of McGregor’s career, at least in terms of professional accomplishment and attainment. Sure, the confident Irishman may have made most of his money since that night, but he has rarely scaled the same heights of performance or output.
McGregor swapped wins with the talented Nate Diaz in December 2016, for example, with these matchups characterised by a bad-natured buildup and the former’s growing penchant for goading his opponents.
The same approach underpinned McGregor’s subsequent win over Eddie Alvarez, while this arguably contributed heavily to ‘Notorious’ losing comprehensively to the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov in their lightweight championship bout in October 2018.
While McGregor’s constant provocation of Khabib helped to make this the most successful UFC bout ever in terms of pay-per-view (some 2.4 million PPV buys were completed prior to the fight), it also afforded the Russian additional motivation while inspiring the ugly scenes that followed after McGregor was submitted.
McGregor has since achieved a technical knockout of Donald Cerrone at welterweight, prior to being comfortably beaten by Porier in their second outing on January 24th.
The ‘Money Fight’ and McGregor’s Fighting Legacy
While there’s no doubt that while McGregor remains undisputed as UFC’s most lucrative and marketable star, his achievements in the octagon haven’t necessarily matched this trajectory.
This may have something to do with McGregor’s abrasive nature and almost overwhelming levels of self-belief, which have continued to distract from his recent performances that have seen him lose three of his last six UFC bouts since 2016.
There’s also arguably a gap between McGregor’s natural ability and his status as UFC’s shining star, with Khabib a far superior fighter and competitors like Poirier evenly matched with the Irishman,
McGregor’s pursuit of stardom and wealth has also encouraged him into the world of boxing, as he took on the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather in the so-called ‘Money Fight’ on August 26th, 2017.
This generated a staggering 5.3 million PPV buys, including 4.3 million on Showtime in the US and 1.007 million on Sky Box Office in the UK. It also earned Notorious an estimated $90 million, making him by far the richest athlete to have ever competed in the UFC.
Of course, the fight itself resulted in a comfortable, 10th round TKO of McGregor, despite the impressive start made by the Irishman. This perhaps captures McGregor’s later career in microcosm, as while his increased wealth and profile has come against the backdrop of controversy and regular losses.
Just How Good is McGregor?
Fame and ability don’t always correlate, and this is something that can be said about the irrepressible McGregor.
So, although Notorious will go down in history as probably the best-known and biggest earning UFC star, he’s unlikely to be renowned as the greatest fighter or someone who is the equal of a legend like Khabib.
By the same token, however, we shouldn’t lose sight of the achievements that McGregor has recorded in his career. He’s arguably the greatest featherweight in the history of the UFC (he’s scarcely lost in this class), for example, while he’s also one of a select band of fighters to have competed in three different weight classes.
His boxing ability also made him a huge Box Office draw, while his decision to take on Mayweather revealed Mcgregor’s ability to transcend the UFC and appeal to a huge global audience.
His career is far from over too, while a victory over lightweight champion Poirier could well signal yet another chapter of success for McGregor.
