On New Year's Eve, 2012, Conor McGregor made the statement that he was ready for the big time by knocking out Ivan Buchinger in the first round of their title bout. This would give McGregor the Cage Warriors lightweight title, making him both the lightweight champion as well as the featherweight champion which he had acquired via submission in June earlier in 2012.
McGregor signed with UFC on February 1st, 2013, and debuted in the octagon a little over two months later on April, 6th. In his inaugural UFC bout, McGregor was set to square off against Marcus Brimage. I took just 67 seconds to see the impact that Conor McGregor was about to have on the UFC and MMA fighting in general. After a flurry of punches by McGregor, the match was stopped and Conor lived up to the hype by claiming victory in his first UFC match via TKO.
On August 17th, 2013, UFC Fight Night 26 pitted McGregor against Max Halloway in an unassuming preliminary bout. At the time, there was little hype to this match, but it would look back on as a monumental event.
Both McGregor and Maxwell were young and just starting their UFC careers and both were full of potential, but little did we know that this match would pit two future UFC world championship title holders against each other well before their respective title reigns. This one would go the distance with Conor winning by unanimous decision.
On paper, this may look like a run-of-the-mill match between two future contenders, but the story that unfolded after the match has become a thing of legend. McGregor claimed he felt his knee "pop" early in the bout, and medical tests would show he did indeed tear his ACL. McGregor has a reputation for being a gritty fighter, but knocking off a future champ with a torn ACL puts him on another level.
After being sidelined for 10 months following the knee injury suffered at Fight Night 26, Conor McGregor was set to return to the ring in the main event bout versus Diego Brandao. McGregor's first shot at headlining a UFC event would come in just his third match and take place in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland.
McGregor did not disappoint as he defeated his Brazilian opponent with a first-round TKO. After the fight, McGregor displayed some of his well-known showmanship by claiming that "there's not a man alive who could come on this soil and beat me."
Up until UFC 178, Conor McGregor had yet to be tested by a proven elite UFC fighter. On September 14th, McGregor got his chance in his first Las Vegas fight against top-10 ranked Dustin Poirier. In standard McGregor style, he went to work fast and won the match by TKO in only 1:45, but the victory alone wasn't the only thing that made this match one of the Irishman's 10 best.
In typical post-fight McGregor bravado, the fighter told Joe Rogan, "I don't just knock 'em out, I pick the round."
Conor McGregor is not accustomed to losing, much less surrendering, but that's what happened on March 5th, 2016, when Nate Diaz forced McGregor to tap out in the second round of their bout. While deflated after the fight, McGregor remained focused and was granted a chance to avenge the loss in a rematch five months later.
There was no submitting for McGregor the second time around, but after three rounds, McGregor versus Diaz Two came down to a close judges' decision which gave McGregor the victory and revenge for his previous defeat against the gritty Nate Diaz.
McGregor was scheduled to fight Jose Aldo at UFC 189 for what was to be his first chance at claiming UFC gold in a World Featherweight title bout. The promotion leading up to the fight was epic, including the famous presser where McGregor ripped the belt out of the champ's hands with the fight world watching. The hype leading up to this bout was tremendous, but unfortunately, McGregor versus Also would have to wait until another day when Aldo had to withdraw from the fight due to injury. This set up a match for an interim-featherweight championship between McGregor and contender Chad Mendes.
McGregor would come away with the win and the title of UFC Interim Featherweight Champion leading to a future match with Aldo to remove the "interim" tag.
It wouldn't take long for the UFC to schedule a match to remove the "interim" tag on McGregor's Featherweight Championship title as the long awaited bout between Conor and Jose Aldo would be rescheduled months after Aldo pulled out of the first fight earlier in the year.
It was a fight that had the potential to go down as one of the most epic bouts in UFC history but became a legend because of Conor McGregor's ferocious opening onslaught that ended the fight in a matter of seconds. At the end of the night, there was no denying that Conor McGregor was hands down the undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion and a force to be reckoned with.
It was a promoter's dream; two brash, vocal showmen who are at the top of their game going head to head. In August of 2017, Conor McGregor stepped out of the octagon and into the boxing ring for a super fight with boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather. The months of promotion were heated and drew the attention of the entire sporting world.
While the boxer Mayweather prevailed in 10 rounds, the fight put the spotlight on McGregor, the UFC and mixed martial arts for months.
While Conor McGregor has achieved quite a bit throughout his fighting career, his crowning achievement has to be holding two UFC world titles at once. Already the UFC Featherweight Champion, McGregor was given the opportunity to add the UFC Lightweight Title belt to his collection on November 12, 2017.
Taking on reigning lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez, McGregor sauntered into the arena in typical confident McGregor fashion and early in the second round turned up the heat with an aggressive attack that left Alvarez reeling. The referee had no choice to stop the fight to prevent injury to Alvarez and McGregor walked out of Madison Square Garden with both the UFC Featherweight and UFC Lightweight title belts