Conor McGregor: Ireland’s Greatest Ever Athlete?

As Conor McGregor stepped into the ring on Saturday night (Sunday morning for those of us this side of the world) there were questions to be answered. The world wasn’t satisfied with his demolition of opponents in the mould of Brandao, Poirier and Siver; they were all dominos waiting to fall on an easy path to a title fight. Chad Mendes had the ground game that everyone was waiting for, but as soon as McGregor was standing there was no looking back. The excuses then were that Mendes had stepped in on short notice and wasn’t fighting fit while McGregor had been preparing for a title fight. His spectacular 13 second knockout of Jose Aldo, a champion that hadn’t lost in ten years, was deemed to be a ‘lucky hit’.

Then we look at the Nate Diaz saga. Sure he was beaten in the first, but what great champion hasn’t lost and come back stronger? In a punishing five round sequel McGregor proved he could go the distance against a man that would normally be two weight classes above him. He fought adversity and he won. There was mooted talk of a chance for McGregor to win a second belt and when the fight against Alvarez was confirmed in September the world once again stood up to take notice. And wow did McGregor deliver.

This time there are no excuses. Both men were in the ring with the same preparation time fighting for a belt and McGregor dominated from start to finish. It only took 45 seconds for him to rock Alvarez, and the lightweight champion couldn’t keep up with the pace and fury of the featherweight title holder in the second round.

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