Conor McGregor has the ability to change people’s lives…literally. The average Joe will work for roughly $32,000 per year, receive no college education, and will more than likely be married and divorced at least one time in his lifetime; at first glance the above statistics unfortunately look like those of the average professional MMA fighter.
Conor McGregor is no average Joe and is definitely no average professional MMA fighter.
McGregor has positioned himself through self-promotion, hard work, and a little bit of ole fashioned Irish luck to be able to demand millions of dollars for not only his services but his opponent’s as well; a fight with ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor will undeniably alter the course of one’s life and make them a millionaire. Things have not always been this way for McGregor as he quite literally has a ‘from rags to riches’ story and with the much anticipated rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202 he is guaranteed even more of those riches. Below we will take a look at five moments in McGregor’s career that helped catapult him to super stardom.
5) Conor swings by unsuspecting fan’s house unannounced…
Most fans, especially long-time hard-core fans, are enamored with a siting, a photograph, or even an autograph of the object of their obsession and there seems to be a direct correlation with the level of fame a star obtains and the rarity of the aforementioned. Seeing as this trend is typically the norm, consider McGregor an anomaly.
Despite his multi-millionaire status and inability to travel anywhere in the world without being recognized, McGregor finds time to pay homage to those who are responsible for making him what he is…the fans. Watch below as McGregor swings by a random fan’s house on a whim and the heartfelt, emotional reaction received.
4) Conor challenges Floyd Mayweather
“If you put me face-to-face with Floyd Mayweather – pound-for-pound boxing’s best – if I fought Floyd, I would kill him in less than thirty seconds. It would take me less than thirty seconds to wrap around him like a boa constrictor and strangle him.” – Conor McGregor
Most people would assume that the above statement is simply a brash and arrogant statement intended to ‘move the needle’, i.e. making waves with the mainstream media. McGregor is a different story in that he quite literally BELIEVES what he says. MgGregor was so sincere about fighting Mayweather and it generated so much talk within not only the MMA community but the boxing community as well, that he even had Dana White, his employer, on board! The story received so much publicity that even highly respected and legitimate news sources where fooled! Below is a direct quote from Colin Cowherd who has a sports talk show, The Herd, on Fox Sports which formerly aired on ESPN.
“This is news I believe is gonna break here in about two weeks… I have already booked two rooms, September 17th and 18th in Las Vegas. My intel is Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather is going to happen.
3) Conor takes the 145 lb. belt from Jose Aldo – literally
Conor McGregor’s ability to sell a fight is the best the world of combat sports has seen since Muhammad Ali and by some accounts, better than Ali. Leading up to his world championship fight with Jose Aldo, McGregor’s ability to talk trash was so great that the UFC designed its first ever world tour: a two week, eight city media tour which spanned from Brazil to Ireland and three other countries along the way.
The shenanigans included some incredible insults, 11 of which can be found here, which included this incredibly demeaning bit of banter:
If this was a different time, I would invade his favela on horseback, and would kill anyone who wasn’t fit to work, but we’re in a new time, so I’ll whoop his ass instead.”
Keep in mind that heading into this bout Aldo was the only Featherweight champion the UFC had ever known and was coming into his 10th title defense, a feat only Anderson Silva has accomplished. The talk culminated with McGregor quite literally taking Aldo’s belt.
2) McGregor gets McGregor Money
When Lyoto Machido refused to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 133, UFC fight fans around the world began to really question some things due to a comment made by Machida but it had nothing to do with fighting. Machida eloquently and simply stated that he was refusing to fight because he wanted a pay raise and his management was quoted as saying, if you pay us Anderson Silva money, we’ll take the fight.
There’s Anderson Silva money and now there is Conor McGregor money. For his fight at UFC 196 against short-notice replacement Nate Diaz, McGregor received an unprecedented disclosed pay of $1,000,000.00, the most in UFC history and he didn’t even have to win the fight! McGregor simply had to make the walk from the locker room to the octagon, answer the opening bell, and BAM! Just like that he is 1 MILLION dollars richer, 20% more than Anderson Silva money.
1) The Conor McGregor Circus: records, retirement, and law suits oh my…
At UFC 196 Conor McGregor was supposed to fight Raphael Dos Anjos for the UFC’s Lightweight title which, if victorious, would leave McGregor in elite company as the only two other multiple-division UFC champions are UFC pioneers, legends, and Hall of Famers BJ Penn and Randy Couture. After Dos Anjos had to withdraw from the contest, the bout was moved to the welterweight division, 170 lbs., and Nate Diaz took the fight on just 10 days notice shocking the entire MMA world by submitting McGregor in the second round.
In the aftermath of one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history, McGregor has masterfully crafted a series of events that is going to net himself and Diaz millions of dollars in their rematch which is set for August 20th at UFC 202. The rematch was originally slated for the historic UFC 200 however; McGregor refused to engage in media obligations, was pulled from the card, and then retired! Coming out of retirement, the MMA community and the public in general simply cannot stop talking about Conor McGregor which only increases his popularity which increases his value.
For the latest shenanigans and repercussions which occurred at the UFC 202 press conference just a few days ago which includes bottle throwing, middle fingers, fines, and potential lawsuits, check out the video below.
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Can’t wait!
