UFC's Greatest

 

       

    Conor McGregor. Probably THE biggest icon in UFC history. As many of us know by now, Conor just came out of his most recent fight with Dustin Poirier, where he came out defeated due to a leg injured he suffered during the fight. But before I dive into Conor and who he has become in the sport, I would like to address why I chose him. True, he is not technically a brand, a product, or a company. But once you learn the significance of who he is and what he has done, then you will realize how Conor is a product or a company all by himself. 

    Conor McGregor came into the UFC in 2013. He fought against Marcus Brimage in a featherweight bout. Conor defeated Brimage by first round knockout in what many would argue would be his best performance in his professional career. Conor rapidly grew with fame and an enormous fanbase. A lot had to do with his character and how entertaining it was to watch his interviews and the fights were the least entertaining about him. Conor brought trash talking to another level. Many fans loved that about him and as him name grew, so did the UFC fanbase. Apart from the entertainment he brought outside of the ring, Conor was also one of the most aggressive fighter the UFC had to see. With early round knockouts in ruthless ways, Conor reached the top of the UFC in a short time. Once at the top he became the first fighter to hold two belts in different divisions simultaneously. From there Conor set out to different ventures, he fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match, where of course he lost, but this allowed him to expand him name and reach other levels of the world with his fame. For those who watched boxing and not UFC would soon know his name in that arena too. And as many of us can now see, he is being copied. More and more UFC fighters are starting to step into the ring, Ben Askren, Anderson Silva(even though he use to box before) and now Tyron Woodley. So as you can now see, Conor McGregor has become sort of a product of the UFC. Conor has also become his own company. He has came out with his own whiskey, Proper 12, and just recently opened his own pub in Ireland, The Black Forge Inn. Hopefully many of you also agree with me of how valuable Conor is to the sport. I'd say that's why he gets the fights he wants and gets paid more than any UFC fighter in history. Most fighters don't see the kind of pay days he does with one fight in 5 fights. Dana White knows it and so do we. 

    Although, following his trilogy with Dustin Poirier and his injury, the question rose. "Is Conor McGregor washed up?" Should he continue to fight post recovery? Since his boxing fight against Floyd in 2017, 4 years ago, he has one one fight. Fight against Donald Cerrone, which I think was an easy win for him. And it was considering he got the KO in the first round. Many around the world are telling him to retire, to stick to his businesses. UFC enthusiast around the world on, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are saying he lost his passion and he's only a businessman now. Which I won't argue, Conor has always made it known he was a businessman. As one of my favorite lines from the film "Southpaw" would say,"if it makes business, it makes sense." And I think that's what Conor lives by now. Which I don't think is a bad thing. Conor is aware of what people are saying and what many UFC commentators say following UFC 264. After his surgery to fix his leg, Conor posted a video on Instagram explaining he had the injury going into the fight.e encouraged everyone to seek out to Dana or the UFC to back his statement. He states he sustained the injury during his training camp. He says he will be back in the octagon after his recovery because he feels he has unfinished business with Dustin. Myself and those who have followed Conor for a while would know, he will be back. A lot of his backlash has to do with the way Conor decided to approach his third fight with Dustin. During his second fight promotion, he acted very civil and a good sport. He received criticism for that. "We miss the old Conor." Referring to his trash talking and aggressive not mr. nice guy. So, for his trilogy, Conor gave the fans what they asked for and went back to his aggressive, trash talking Conor. In his trash talk, he brought up Dustin's wife sending him messages on Instagram and made comments about Dustin going out on a stretcher after the fight. Many saw his comments as disrespectful and too far. Thats what everyone asked for and now its a problem? Sometimes I'm amazed by people. But it is what it is. I think it'll be interesting to see what Conor does next and how his recovery goes. All I know is he will be back in one way or another. I don't think he should do anything different, whether it's in a good way or bad, his name continues to circulate throughout the world. He continues to grow and expand not only his own name but the UFC, his whiskey and now his pub. I think Conor is like a mini Floyd Mayweather. Love him or hate him, he is doing big numbers no matter what he does or how old he gets. 

    I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. The UFC and the fighting sport itself has always been part of my life so writing about a person vs an inanimate object or a company as a whole was fun. Brought different challenges but by now I'm sure we can all agree on how big and how much more than just one person Conor McGregor is.