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What could Conor McGregor's legacy be?


Conor McGregor is the biggest name in mixed martial arts, without question. But with that name recognition, come certain expectations. Has McGregor lived up to those expectations so far?

Let's start with McGregor's career prior to the UFC.

Fighting in Europe, McGregor lost two of his first six fights before rattling off eight straight wins, including capturing both the Featherweight and Lightweight titles in the Cage Warriors promotion. He was a rising name on the scene with all 12 of his wins coming via TKO or Knockout. From his pro-debut in 2008 until he was signed by the UFC in 2013, McGregor established himself as a force to be reckoned with in European MMA.

McGregor signed with the UFC in February of 2013 and made his promotional debut in April.

He very quickly made his presence known in the UFC, earning a Knockout of the Night bonus by knocking out Marcus Brimage in just over a minute.

A closely fought decision victory over Max Holloway saw McGregor's stock rise even more when it came out that he had actually torn his ACL early in the fight and still managed to pull off the win.

Upon his return to the cage just under a year later, McGregor would fire off three straight Performance of the Night wins over Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier, and Dennis Siver.

Those performances had him lined up to face champion Jose Aldo at UFC 189. Unfortunately, Aldo would suffer an injury and withdraw from the fight on short notice. McGregor would instead face Chad Mendes for the interim title. In his toughest test to that point, McGregor would capture the interim Featherweight title by TKO victory over Mendes in the 2nd round, earning another Performance of the Night in the process.

The long-awaited showdown with Jose Aldo finally took place at UFC 194 in 2015. The walk to the cage lasted longer than the actual fight since McGregor knocked out Aldo in just 13-seconds with just one punch.

A Champion vs Champion fight against then Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos was set up before Dos Anjos withdrew due to injury. Nate Diaz would step in as a late replacement and the fight would take place at welterweight instead. In a shocking upset, McGregor suffered his first UFC loss when he was submitted by Diaz in the 2nd round. In a rematch later that year, again at welterweight, McGregor would avenge the loss to Diaz in the pair's second Fight of the Night performance.

In his most recent UFC bout, McGregor dominated Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez en route to a 2nd round TKO victory to capture the Lightweight title and become the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in 2 different weight classes at the same time.

That would seem to be enough to cement McGregor's legacy as one of the best ever, right? A 9-1 UFC record, champion in 2 different divisions, Performance or Fight of the Night Bonuses in all but 1 of his UFC fights, dominating performances in both of his title fights. All of that seems to be pretty straightforward.

But what about since then?

McGregor was stripped of the Featherweight title due to not defending his belt. He has yet to defend his Lightweight title and is quickly approaching a year since he last stepped foot in the octagon. In that time he has taken part in arguably the biggest fight in combat sports history as he took on Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match, losing in the eighth round.

There are conflicting rumors of either a trilogy fight with Diaz taking place at the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018 as well as a possible second boxing match, this time against Paul Malignaggi.

If either of those fights takes place, and the title isn't defended, what does that mean for McGregor's legacy? And does the Irishman care?
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