The rise — and spectacular fall — of Conor McGregor as one big question lingers

Whether it’s in boxing, wrestling or MMA, the equation is the same: star power means more than just talent.

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Combat sports are clearly sporting pursuits – it’s in the name – but in many ways they’re closer to sports entertainment. People have to want to watch you. It obviously helps if you’re talented, but being good and boring is almost the worst-case scenario, because then you’re never gonna get the chances you deserve.

You have to draw people in, whether it’s with your relatable backstory, your incredible skills on the microphone, or your thrilling fighting style. That’s what sells pay per views and tickets, and once you get to that superstar level, it’s hard to fall off the cliff. (Look at a 58-year-old Mike Tyson drawing 60 million viewers for a fight he was never going to win with some YouTuber.)

Hard, but not impossible. And Conor McGregor found a way, rising to become one of the biggest sporting names on the planet to now falling in spectacular fashion.

The question is whether he’s given a way to get back up.

THE RISE

Switching from an apprentice plumber to an MMA hopeful, in a nation that hardly had a reputation in the sport, McGregor wasn’t an overnight sensation until he was.

Making his MMA debut at the amateur level in 2007, and turning pro a year later, McGregor only got serious about making a career out of his fighting skills once he linked up with coach John Kavanagh going into the 2010s.

An eight-fight winning streak across the British Isles put him on the UFC radar, and McGregor made his triumphant debut aged 25, earning knockout of the night for his defeat of Marcus Brimage in Stockholm.

“I didn’t have money before this,” he said after the fight.

“I was collecting €188-a-week off the social welfare, and now here I am with a 60 G’s bonus and then my own pay.”

An ACL injury suffered in his second fight – a win over eventual featherweight champion Max Holloway – forced him into nine months on the sidelines but by the time he returned, fighting at home in Dublin and recording a TKO win over Diego Brandao, thc McGregor brand was really starting to emerge.

Less than 12 months later, and three wins later, McGregor was the interim featherweight champion – helping sell out the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 189.

The 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194 that December launched him into the stratosphere, and even a first UFC loss to Nate Diaz in his welterweight debut didn’t really matter; it just made the rematch five months later even bigger.

McGregor was a genuine sensation at this point and it seemed as if the brash character which fight fans well in love with was bleeding into his real self.

Still, McGregor was massive enough to be named Irish Sportsperson of the Year – in a big year for Irish sport, given the Olympics and the 2016 Euros where the nation beat Italy.

“It was divisive though,” Irish journalist Sinead O’Carroll told the BBC about the “remarkable feat”.

“Some people thought that he wasn’t so much a sportsperson, that he was more a celebrity and people looked up to him because of his attitude and his fame.

“He’s never been a very clear-cut, popular figure in Ireland, but he would have been part of that establishment, winning that award, being invited onto the Late Late Show and would have been highly regarded for his feats in the cage, if nothing else.”

Becoming a double champion in November 2016, taking the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez, only added to the McGregor aura. He was living up to his words; shaping as the rare superstar who is both a generational talker and a generational fighter.

If McGregor wasn’t the biggest name in combat sports at this point, he was second only to Floyd Mayweather, which made his next step both natural and absurd.

There was no real scenario where McGregor was ever going to beat Mayweather in a boxing match. There is a reason why fighters specialise, even at 40 years old, the 49-0 American was always going to dominate (if he truly cared about doing so).

But that’s not the point of these type of fights. They are a spectacle, and after all, McGregor had always lived up to his talk before. So at least to the casual fan, there was always a chance he’d prove himself right.

Given the sporting reality of the bout, McGregor lost very little in defeat. In fact he gained plenty, with the revenue from the second-biggest pay per view of all-time landing him over $US100 million.

“Conor might never fight again,” UFC head honcho Dana White said a few months later.

“The guy’s got $100 f***ing million. I’ve got guys that made less than that and were lawyers and went to school their whole life and quit working … try to get up every day and get punched in the face when you have $100 million in the bank.

“Money changes everything.”

THE FALL

McGregor has fought just four times since being stopped by Mayweather in the 10th round in Las Vegas.

He has won just once.

The story around McGregor became more spectacle than sport. Stripped of the lightweight title due to his inactivity, McGregor was involved in an ugly incident leading into UFC 223 when he and a dozen others stormed the loading dock at New York’s Barclays Center, attempting to find Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Throwing a metal dolly into a bus containing UFC fighters, a window shattered an injured three, with McGregor charged with three counts of assault and criminal mischief.

Dana White both called the incident “the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company”.

The build-up for McGregor’s eventual loss to Nurmagomedov was contentious at best and offensive at worst, with the Irishman targeting his opponent’s Muslim faith and calling his Egyptian manager a “terrorist”.

“There is way deeper s*** than just a fight on Saturday night,” McGregor said.

“I’m going to settle this the noble way for myself and then see what happens after that … f*** peace. There will never be peace here. I always say you should aim for peace but if you can’t aim for peace, aim between the eyes. I’m gonna to aim right between that man’s eyes and this is never over. Never, ever, ever over.”

McGregor was dominated in the octagon while Nurmagomedov launched himself out of it to attack one of his opponent’s training partners, sparking a massive melee in and around the arena.

The damage from the brawl was simple enough – a $US50,000 fine and six-month suspension – but the damage from the fight was worse.

It wasn’t as if he was viewed as an unstoppable force at this point; Nate Diaz had proven McGregor could be beaten, but part of Diaz’s success came simply from ignoring the furore around the fight. He didn’t buy into the character, and he allowed his cardio advantage to do the job for him.

It forced McGregor to become a better fighter for the rematch, but Mayweather was already on the horizon, and the incredible celebrity and wealth which followed seemed to prevent him from ever reaching those heights again.

Nurmagomedov bought into the sideshow, showing how authentic the hatred was post-fight, but it didn’t stop him from proving McGregor was simply nowhere near that level..

And to the public, especially the casual UFC fan who really just dipped in for McGregor shows, that was enormous. So much of his character worked because he always lived up to his ridiculous claims; once he lost comfortably, the shield had been completely pierced.

“He had a dream in his life to become something,” McGregor trainer Colin Byrne said in the 2023 documentary ‘McGregor Forever’.

“He got to be the champion and then it came with all the other s***. That distraction, it pulls you, it pulls you, it pulls you away from what you wanted to be in the first place.

“The Khabib fight was a kick in the hole and he deserved it. There’s nothing nice about any of that. All that anger and the press conference and the incident after the fight. There are no winners in any of that, that’s just all hate.”

It all sparked a spiral, both inside and outside of the octagon.

THE PLUMMET

Most of the time the fight world heard about McGregor from here on, it had something to do with a legal matter.

These accusations were often withdrawn, and everyone deserves the assumption of innocence. But the sheer number of incidents remains notable:

– McGregor was charged with strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief for attacking a fan in Miami who tried to take a photo of him. The charges and civil suit which followed were dropped;

– McGregor pleaded guilty to assault after TMZ published a video of him punching a 50-year-old man at a Dublin pub, being fined $1000;

– McGregor was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and indecent exposure at a bar on the island of Corsica, being released without charge two days later;

– McGregor threw a punch at rapper Machine Gun Kelly on the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet, but missed;

– McGregor was accused by an Italian DJ of punching him and breaking his nose at a Rome nightclub;

– McGregor was arrested and released on bail after six driving offences, including two counts of dangerous driving, in Dublin;

– McGregor was accused of assaulting an Irish woman on his yacht in Ibiza, with claims he punched her and threaten to drown her. He denied the allegations, and the woman’s car was set on fire by unknown assailants around the time of the claims, but a civil suit was dropped;

– McGregor was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the bathroom of the 2023 NBA Finals. He denied the allegations, and the charges were dropped.

As often happens with the biggest names in combat sports – see Mike Tyson, who spent three years in prison after being convicted of rape – you can still make money while involved in legal disputes.

Especially if the charges don’t stick, as was often the case with McGregor. If there’s no legal reason to take away his earning capacity, it’s unfair to do so.

But at this point he was facing another problem entirely out of his control; the UFC’s new financial reality.

In 2018, the company signed a $US300 million a year deal with ESPN that, in short, lessened the need to satisfy McGregor financially.

So naturally, he fought less, beating Donald Cerrone in January 2020 before two losses to Dustin Poirier in 2021 – the latter ending when McGregor broke his leg in a gruesome incident. He was losing the fight anyway.

Without most of his UFC aura, McGregor was left to capitalise on what was left of his mainstream fame, constantly retiring and unretiring from the fight game – partially because he wasn’t in the US drug testing system, meaning he couldn’t come back for a fight until he committed to six months of regular checks while passing two tests.

The UFC exited its partnership with USADA in 2023 to embark on its own drug testing system, and McGregor was finally set to return at UFC 303 in June 2024 to fight Michael Chandler. Despite all of the drama, it was on track to be massive.

Yet McGregor withdrew from the fight in confusing circumstances – a press conference in Ireland was cancelled without explanation, and eventually he withdrew from the fight due to a broken toe.

In the meantime, the case that would bring him to his lowest point was running its way through the legal system.

An Irish woman accused McGregor of rape in early 2019, with the local media reporting on the allegations without naming him, before it eventually was revealed in the US. The criminal case was dropped but a civil case, which has a lower bar of proof (being likely on the balance of probabilities, rather than beyond reasonable doubt) concluded in late November.

McGregor was found guilty by a jury. He was ordered to pay $AU402,000 to the victim, who claimed he forced her onto a bed, choked her and made her fear for her life.

McGregor, who claimed they had consensual sex, has said he will appeal the decision.

“People want to hear from me, I needed time,” he tweeted after the civil case.

“I know I made mistakes. Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches. I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me.

“As much as I regret it, everything that happened that night was consensual and all the witnesses present swore to that under oath. I have instructed my legal team to appeal the decision.

“I can’t go back and I will move forward. I am beyond grateful to my family, friends and supporters all over the world who have stayed by my side.

“That’s it. No more. Getting back to the gym – the fight game awaits!”

Ultinately, without any major criminal charges sticking, McGregor still has a path back. Because we know the fight game loves a comeback story – no matter how controversial.

THE RETURN?

White had not spoken about McGregor’s future until being asked about the civil case in a post-UFC 310 press conference.

The UFC boss, asked for his reaction, explained: “If I had a comment I would have put it out already.”

And then came a question on McGregor’s position in the UFC.

“He hasn’t been fighting here in how long? If he does fight it will be sometime next year,” White added.

There is no legal reason why McGregor can’t fight, and the UFC would have to enforce its Athlete Conduct Policy to ban him. But he and many others have breached that plenty of times, and it’s rarely enforced.

The UFC is different to other sports because of the role of state athletic commissions who oversee the events; they could make a ruling on McGregor but it would be ineffective given the company could just move his fight, and the money it would draw, elsewhere.

Not everyone is on board, with UFC commentator and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier saying on his YouTube show a couple of weeks ago: “Conor McGregor is going to face some real-life consequences … but does he need to fight to make y’all forgive him? Or will the fight world even accept this man with this (civil rape trial) being public knowledge?

“He’s in the sh*t, guys. He’s overcome many things, inside the octagon and in life, but this thing – I don’t know if there’s gonna be any getting around this.”

McGregor continues to agitate for a return. In a series of deleted tweets this week, he called out his old foe Michael Chandler along with featherweight champ Ilia Topuria.

A late 2025 fight looks the most likely scenario.

Remember – star power overshadows almost everything.

Conor McGregor, for all his faults, and despite being a 36-year-old in a sport where losses compound upon losses making it even harder to succeed when you’re an older fighter, and despite having won one fight in eight years… is still Conor McGregor.