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 winner. As of 1 July 2019, he is ranked #3 in the official UFC lightweight rankings and #9 from 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 with the UFC. In 2015, in UFC 194, he defeated Jos?? Aldo to the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 minutes to the first round, which is the fastest victory in UFC title history. Upon beating 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 had been conquered by Floyd Mayweather Jr.He is the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw MMA history, having headlined five from those six highest-selling UFC pay-per-view occasions. His headline bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 drew 2.4 million PPV purchases, the most ever for an MMA event. His boxing match with Mayweather attracted 4.3 million PPV buys in North America, the next most from history.On 9 March 2008, McGregor had his first pro MMA bout, as a lightweight, defeating Gary Morris using a second-round TKO. Following McGregor won his next battle against Mo Taylor, he left his featherweight debut in a loss via entry against Artemij Sitenkov. Following a success at featherweight in his next bout against Stephen Bailey, McGregor contemplated a different career path prior to his mum contacted his coach John Kavanagh and reinvigorated him to keep on pursuing mixed martial arts. [25]
McGregor then won his second battle, too at featherweight, against Connor Dillon, before going back to lightweight for a fight against Joseph Duffy, where he obtained his next expert reduction after submitting to an arm-triangle choke. After this, throughout 2011 and 2012, McGregor went on 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 hold titles in two branches simultaneously. In February 2013, UFC president Dana White chose to Dublin, Ireland to receive a Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College and has been inundated with requests to sign McGregor to the UFC. After a meeting McGregor, and speaking with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, White offered him a contract later.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2013–gift )
2013
UFC introduction In February 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that they had signed McGregor into some multi-fight contract. [27] In linking, McGregor became just the second fighter from Ireland to compete for the company, following fellow SBG team member Tom Egan.
On April 2013, McGregor made his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage about the preliminary card of UFC on Fuel TV: Mousasi vs. Latifi. [28] Brimage began the battle aggressively, meeting McGregor in the center of the octagon before launching a flurry of strikes to push him back. McGregor, repeatedly throwing a counter left hand, found little success with his initial striking. After ascertaining that Brimage was vulnerable to a snap kick directed at his chest and torso, McGregor began to employ a looping left hand uppercut, throwing each single time Brimage would proceed forward into striking range. All these uppercuts grounded Brimage soon after McGregor started to utilize them. The bout was stopped 1:07 into the first round. [29] The win also earned McGregor his initial»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 out of the bout citing an accident and was replaced by Max Holloway. [31] McGregor bewildered Holloway together with his unusual boxing strategy, and his incorporation of a huge variety of taekwondo kicks, many of which aren’t used in MMA to some substantial level. McGregor managed to restrain the striking range using extended, non-committal low side kicks to Holloway’s knee and knee, and commence mixes by jumping with switch and bicycle kicks. After the battle was brought to the floor, McGregor maintained top control, performing various positional advances, and mitigating his opponent’s offence on the floor. [32] McGregor won the fight by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–26). Following the bout with Holloway, an MRI study revealed 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 anticipated to confront Cole Miller on 19 July 2014 in UFC Fight Night 46 within his comeback bout after recovering from his ACL injury. [34] But, Miller pulled out of this bout citing a thumb injury and was replaced by Diego Brand??o. [35] McGregor fought Brand??o in front of a loud, rowdy crowd of 9,500 at The O2 in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. McGregor started the struggle with a touch turning side kick, before finding his range and landing various taekwondo kicks, and left hand counters. Brand??o, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black buckle, tried to instigate two takedowns, so he could make use of his grappling pedigree, but both attempts were avoided by McGregor. Nonetheless, a lot of the fight was spent on the ground, as McGregor attained a takedown 1:20 into the bout. When the fight returned to the feet in the third minute, McGregor started to use his left hand cross, and started to cut the cage. Brand??o, trapped between the octagon and McGregor, fell to his side after being hit with another left hand cross as the struggle went into its fourth minute. [36][37] The battle was formally halted by referee Leon Roberts at 4:05 of the first round. The win earned McGregor his initial»Performance of the Night» award. [38]
Prior to his next bout, McGregor met with Lorenzo Fertitta and signed up a fresh multi-fight contract with the UFC. McGregor next confronted Dustin Poirier on 27 September 2014 at 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 the expectancy stemmed in the challenge the match-up introduced: Poirier was McGregor’s first opponent ranked in the UFC’s top ten featherweights. [41][42] Despite McGregor landing 9 significant strikes on Poirier’s 10, he was able to secure a success early on in the first round, by pushing Poirier on his back foot, before bursting with a left hook behind Poirier’s ear, forcing referee Herb Dean to measure in. The finish officially came at 1:46 into the first round. [43][44] This marked Poirier’s first UFC loss via KO/TKO, also earned 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 second target in the organisation, saying that»If [the UFC] want, I’ll eliminate Chad Mendes and step in and give the fans what they want; Aldo vs. McGregor.»
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