30 greatest UFC fighters of all time [UPDATED]
17. Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor had the UFC by a chokehold from 2014 to 2016, being the biggest PPV draw in the promotion’s history. McGregor is 10-4 in the UFC with 10 performance bonuses.
McGregor was the biggest fighter in Ireland before he made the jump to the UFC in 2013. After starting out 2-0, including a win against future champion Max Holloway, Conor McGregor headlined his first card in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland against Diego Brandao. McGregor won via first-round knockout and proclaimed the saying that’s still stuck in our heads today, “We’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over.”
From there on out, McGregor would continue his 15-fight win streak which included wins over Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver, often calling the way he would finish fights. In 2015, with Jose Aldo sidelined, McGregor faced Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title, and after the win was set up for the Jose Aldo showdown at the end of the year. McGregor starched Aldo 13 seconds into the fighting, knocking out the featherweight king and doing exactly what he said he would.
McGregor then ventured to welterweight, where he faced Nate Diaz in back-to-back fights, losing the first and winning the second. The McGregor/Diaz rivalry never got that third fight but was some of the most exciting months the UFC has had. McGregor then faced lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the first-ever event in New York at Madison Square Garden, arguably the biggest fight card the promotion had put on at the time. McGregor became one of seven multi-division champions and the first simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC.
McGregor was later stripped of his titles due to inactivity but returned two years later to face new lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov. Since his loss to Nurmagomedov, McGregor is 1-2, and his last two fights losses to Dustin Poirier, with an injury occurring in the latter. McGregor is rumored to return to action in 2023, and we’re all just waiting to see who his opponent will be.