The Rise of Conor McGregor: Part II

By JM “Shade” Daguio

After the dismantling of Dennis Siver, Conor McGregor cemented his claim to the featherweight title. During this time, a handful of featherweights are also laying their claim to the crown such as the New Jersey native, Frankie “the Answer” Edgar, who fought and loss to a very close decision versus the champ Jose Aldo; Chad “Money” Mendes also fought the Brazilian champs already losing twice (via controversial KO and unanimous decision) but compiling strings of victory in his recent bouts, Mendes wanted a 3rd fight with Aldo. The UFC did not oblige either Edgar or Mendes, instead they went with the upstart featherweight in Conor McGregor to finally have the chance of bringing the belt to the Emerald Isle.

The Aldo-McGregor press tour was contentious and chippy. McGregor drop every insult in the book to rile up Aldo and taking him out of his game, the barbs work like magic and Aldo -definitely angry- wanted to dismantle McGregor in the worst way possible. The press tour ended and training begins, or so it seems….

Jose Aldo suffered a rib injury during training, 3 weeks before the bout, the UFC confirmed the injury and McGregor was left with no opponent, however Chad “Money” Mendes was available and was very eager to shut the Irishman up. The UFC decided this would be a match for the interim featherweight title.

July 11, 2015 (UFC 189) Chad Mendes Vs Conor McGregor

Pundits have always questioned McGregor’s ability vs. seasoned wrestlers and grinders, McGregor responded that his training suits any type of opponent but Chad Mendes is an accomplished wrestler with KO power. For the pundits and other critics, this is might be the worst matchup for McGregor. It seemed like that during the fight. In the first round, McGregor hit Mendes with brutal front kicks and and left straights, Mendes, clearly wobbled, attempted to take McGregor down and was successful, he was able to attack McGregor in the ground with elbows and punches which led to the Irishman suffering a cut in the right eyebrow.

The first round ended, Mendes survived the striking onslaught of McGregor and was able to dish out punishment of his own. The second round was more of the same, Mendes took McGregor down with ease but clearly the punishment he suffered during the first round and the less than ideal 3-week training, took it’s toll. Mendes is still dominating in the ground but wanted to finish the fight early due to his conditioning not being at par, Mendes attempted a guillotine choke, which locked for a brief second up until McGregor defended perfectly with a ‘reverse scramble’, both men stood up, now it’s back to McGregor’s world, he launched his fury with kicks and his favored left straight that visibly wobbled Mendes, the Irishman landed the final blow, which collapsed Mendes, who had to turn his back to protect himself from the follow- up onslaught. The referee had seen enough and Conor McGregor is the interim featherweight champion of the world.

December 12, 2015 (UFC 194) Jose Aldo Vs Conor McGregor

The most anticipated match of the year. The unification bout between long time brazilian kingpin, Jose Aldo and upstart interim champ/challenger, Conor McGregor. The pre-fight banter regaled the crowd, as McGregor’s penchant for trash talking was in full display, Aldo on the other hand was somewhat retaliating but most of the time quiet with clear ill will towards the Irishman. Fight night was deafening as a sea of Irish and Brazilian flags waved in the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena, patriotic fans singing their football “ole-ole-ole’s” and Brazilian fans cursing McGregor in their native Portuguese. As both fighters were introduced, McGregor looks supremely confident and Aldo a little bit unsettled.

The fight starts, both fighters measuring each other carefully, Aldo attempted a kick followed by combos as McGregor backpedals but attempts to counter to no avail, both reset their positions at the center of the octagon, Aldo again, attempted his one-two combo, as Aldo came in, McGregor beautifully steps to his right, fired his left-hook which sent the champ crashing to the ground. The fight was over in 13 seconds. It was the shortest championship fight in UFC history beating out Ronda Rousey’s submission of Cat Zingano in 14 seconds. McGregor became the first Irish UFC world champion and the 3rd European to hold a UFC title.

March 5, 2016 (UFC 196) Conor McGregor Vs Nate Diaz

The 13-second destruction of longtime champ (now former) Jose Aldo did not only established McGregor as one of the elite pound for pound, he established himself as the UFC’s biggest star and money maker due to his previous performance in UFC 194 versus Aldo made close to 1.5 million pay-per-view buys. With this type of leverage, McGregor wanted to challenge the Lightweight Champ (155 lbs.), Rafael Dos Anjos.

The UFC granted that wish which set up one of the most monumental matches in history, however, during training, Dos Anjos broke his foot and had to withdraw from the title fight two weeks before the scheduled bout, McGregor again had no opponent, but this time there were boatload of fighters who wanted to substitute for Dos Anjos. The UFC landed their choice on one Nathan Diaz, a perennial lightweight, cardio machine, jiu-jitsu ace and boxing extraordinaire.

Also, Nate Diaz might be Conor’s match in trashtalking. Both fighters agree to a welterweight non-title fight (170 Ibs.). Fight night was spectacular, as both fighters didn’t even touch gloves during prefight huddle with the ref. The first round was all McGregor, the featherweight champ peppered Diaz with everything but the kitchen sink, straight, uppercuts, body shots, wheel-kicks, Diaz wasn’t wobbled but clearly bothered by all McGregor’s strikes, Diaz’s forehead was bleeding and he had to clear the blood trickling to his eyes, Diaz was also countering great but the volume of punches wasn’t there, Diaz tripped McGregor which turned into a scramble, McGregor ended up on top attempting to strike Diaz down, however due to Diaz’s excellent ground game, he was able to weather the initial onslaught which led to Diaz surviving the round.

The second round was a little bit slow, McGregor stood up smiling but walking slowly. Nate had the same demeanor, his forehead started bleeding again as McGregor landed absolute bombs, Diaz, even though clearly hit, rolled with the punches, countered with a few shots and reset his position in the center of the octagon. McGregor, clearly surprised that Diaz wasn’t going down, upped the ante with overhand lefts and hooks but still Diaz was smiling. Diaz was already countering McGregor’s shot but his volume evidently increased which surprised McGregor, Diaz landed a perfect 1-2 combo right smack on McGregor’s chin and wobbled the Irishman, Diaz followed with another 1-2 combo, both landed and McGregor had to back pedal, Diaz smelling blood went after McGregor, pinned McGregor to the cage and landed punches that clearly rock “The Notorious”.

McGregor despite being wobbled fought back with haymakers but Diaz had the mental edge, the counters from McGregor were replied with 1-2 combos which spelled the near end of the featherweight champ, McGregor shot for a desperation takedown which was easily stuffed by Diaz who immediately went for a guillotine choke, McGregor reversed briefly but his ground game versus Diaz was were miles apart, Diaz countered the reverse with a full mount and started raining bombs that made the crowd go wild, McGregor is in danger of being stopped, the champ decided to turn his back to Diaz, to which Diaz happily obliged with punching McGregor at the side of the head, sensing the end, Diaz landed one last bomb before locking in the fight ending rear naked choke, McGregor submitted almost immediately.

The crowd went absolutely insane. McGregor, even though he lost, was still the champ of the featherweight division but clearly fighting way above his weight class took a toll, McGregor attributed his loss to his inefficiency with punches, the weight itself and Diaz’s tenacity and granite chin. Diaz, for his part, was asked of what his reaction to his win, Diaz replied: “Hey, I’m not surprised motherf**ers!”.

Conor McGregor is still the UFC Featherweight Champion, as of this writing, he asked for a rematch versus Nate Diaz at 170 Ibs. which was confirmed by the UFC to be the main event of UFC 200 (UFC’s showcase event) early July of 2016.

Read Part I of: The Rise of Conor McGregror

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