Why is Conor McGregor Such a good Fighter?
Every sport in the world and generation has its own hero. We’re speaking about the man who is capable of dominating and changing the face of the sport. A hero of the nation ready to conquer the world while carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Conor McGregor is that man and he deserves a lot of credit for bringing the sport of MMA to the highest levels.
I’m going to change the way martial arts is viewed. I’m going to change the game. I’m going to change the way people approach fighting. — Conor McGregor
He is by far the most popular MMA athlete on the planet and a very skilled fighter. Inside the cage, he has that aura of invisibility around him that only true greats have. And outside of it, he shines with the Notorious swagger and engaging temper. Love him or hate him, everything he says goes across the world, and all that he touches turns into gold.
He was the first fighter to capture UFC titles in two separate weight classes, and he holds many records inside the UFC cage.
Intrigued by the “Notorious” phenomena, we have decided to dig deep and discover what truly makes him so special. If you want to know why hes in our list of highest paid UFC fighters, check out our article here, it also goes over his highest pay day.
Focus and confidence
It’s fair to say that McGregor is synonymous with the laser focus inside the cage. As we know, the ability to stay calm in the heat of the moment is what separates true greats from the average ones. Conor is a King of “flow state”.
Conor has always had the self-belief that he is the best fighter in the world. During the early beginnings, he and his present wife Dee have barely had enough money to survive. But what kept them together was Conor’s vision and focus on succeeding in MMA. It really takes a special mindset to wake up without a dollar in your pocket and believe you are the best in the world.
“All that matters is how you see yourself. If you see yourself as the king, with all the belts and everything, and no matter what no one else says, as long as you see that, and really believe in it, then that’s what’s going to happen” — Conor McGregor
Further, he is very disciplined and even humble when it comes to training and preparing for a fight. Conor believes that the mix of hard work and obsession is the only road to success in the fighting game. So he follows a very strict training regime that forces him to commit 100% of his life to it.
In his own words, Conor spends a lot of time meditating and visualizing the upcoming fight. That’s why he always looks calm, relaxed, and focused. This allows him to properly assess the situation he is in and be a few steps ahead of his rivals. His win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 is a perfect example of why Conor is a king of the flow state.
Amazing standup skills
McGregor has an amazing KO ratio and is one of the best strikers in modern MMA. This is not a huge surprise thinking that he came into MMA from amateur boxing. Some fans criticize him for relying just on the power in his left hand. But as we are about to see, his style is very advanced.
Conor’s understanding of distance, timing, and angles is something that sets him above the others. Fighting out of the southpaw stance, Conor utilizes a high reach (74") to stay way from takedowns or explosive attacks. Once he decides to move in, Conor would throw punches with perfect timing, power, and precision. He truly has a God-given reaction time and speed.
Further, he is one of the rare fighters who can fight while both moving forward and backward. Many experts see him as the best defensive boxer in MMA. So he prefers to wait for the rival to step into his range and destroy them with the counters. But he also does a great job of pressing forward and engaging first.
Further, he is also very agile and can dodge and slip punches like no other fighter. That’s why you can rarely see him absorbing clean shots or serious damage. We know this may sound cliche, but Conor can see stuff coming at him in advance. He is truly a “hit and don’t get hit” type of fighter.
His grappling is much underrated
Conor has a much underrated grappling game. Yes, he is a vicious striker who always prefers a standup fight. I mean, everybody fights based on their strengths, right? But saying he is a poor grappler is simply an understatement.
The thing is, Conor has faced many great grapplers throughout his career. But nobody, except for Khabib, has managed to dominate him on the ground. Even Khabib had to put a lot of effort into getting a takedown and controlling Conor on the bottom. Also, let’s not forget that Conor has really great defensive wrestling skills.
Conor spends a lot of hours trying to improve his grappling skills. At SBG, he trains with some of the best BJJ fighters and wrestlers. On a daily basis, he rolls with the BJJ experts like Dillion Dennis and one of the best BJJ fighters on the UFC roster, Gunnar Nelson.
Amazing personality
Conor’s personality is a dream of every fight promoter. He is intelligent, outspoken, flamboyant, and even vulgar at times. All of this makes him a villain that everybody loves, and that is the best marketing trick in the fighting business. Just ask the WWE guys if you don’t trust us.
You see, many people don’t agree with his way of promoting fights, trash talk, or insults. Some of his incidents were way off and just terrible (the Bus incident for example).
But deep inside, we all know that’s all an act. He was the first one to understand that MMA is a reality show and that you need to give something to people to rage or cheer about.
You may agree or not, but Conor can feel what the fans want. If he needs their attention, he will create a huge incident. If he went too far with it, he will do a serious interview and buy the fans back with his charm and intelligence. I mean, the guy is a marketing guru.
He is the ultimate trash talker
McGregor is perhaps the best trash talker in the history of all combat sport. He has the ability to quickly find weak spots in the personality of any of his rivals. Once he gets the talking going, he doesn’t stop until he breaks your mind. And the fans love it!
The thing is, he is not just about insulting his rivals by using harsh words. He has that unique ability to get under your skin with one sentence. Not to mention how creative he can be and that his lines are always on point. Also, the timing behind some of his greatest lines couldn’t get any better. Just recall how he destroyed RDA with the famous “red panty night” line.
Conor will persecute his rivals for months. He will use every media appearance to mention your name and piss you off. By the time you step inside the cage to fight him, you are already a beaten man. While he has the ability to enter the flow state, his rivals often step into the octagon with a messed up mind. Instead of being rational, his opponents often got overwhelmed with emotions.
As a result, they often look lost and visibly frustrated. Jose Aldo was so emotional that he charged at Conor with the chin up in the air and got smoked with a counter punch in just 13 seconds. This was very unusual for Aldo who never did such a thing before or after and the best example of the effectiveness of Conor’s trash talk.
He is a money-making machine
As said in the intro, Conor has elevated the world of MMA and the UFC to another level. He claims a lot of credits for bringing in millions of new fans and the PPV numbers he has been generating are huge. We all have at least one friend who started watching MMA because of him.
But on top of that, he’s a great businessman and knows how to benefit from all this. Let us drop you some numbers. Here are the biggest PPV buys in MMA thus far:
- UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor — 2,400,000 PPV buys
- UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2– 2,200,00 PPV buys
- UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz — 1,317,000 PPV buys
- UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor — 1,300,000 PPV buys
As we can see, McGregor is simply dominating the fighting market. Thus, his negotiation power is insane, and it’s not a surprise that many fans think he is bigger than the UFC. That’s why nobody could stop him from fighting Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match in 2017. And by the way, the fight against Floyd sold 4.3 million domestic buys, the second-highest buy rate in PPV history!
I run this whole thing. I run New York. I run this whole ship. Without me none of this happens. I run this whole s**t. Everyone in this game does what they’re f***g told except for me and rightly f***g so
