Fighters Only

Issue 154

May 2017

Conor McGregor’s climb to the summit of MMA, and his 2016 Fighters Only Fighter of the Year award could be pivotal for the sport.

Conor McGregor transcended MMA in 2016.

Even though Cody Garbrandt, Michael Bisping, Stipe Miocic and Donald Cerrone achieved great things in the same period, the achievements of ‘The Notorious’ made him stand above them all and became an MMA fan-favorite.

He jumped weight classes and broke boundaries on his way to attracting a whole new audience and setting countless new records that mean mixed martial arts may never be the same.

It seems a long time ago that McGregor introduced himself to the world by demanding $60,000 from Dana White for his first-round demolition of Marcus Brimage in Stockholm, Sweden in 2013.

Few imagined then we were witnessing the most influential mixed martial artist of a generation – or that the number he was talking about would be chump change to him in just a few years.

The brash Irishman has changed the game with his approach to the sport, both inside and outside the Octagon.

His exciting fighting style and fearless approach to challenges have taken mixed martial arts to a whole new level.

Why dominate one weight class when you can take on two or even three? It’s an attitude that’s made him into the biggest superstar the sport has ever seen.

Sure, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones had longer reigns as champions, but they did not move up through the weight divisions and jeopardize their championship status. In many ways, they held both themselves and the sport back.

Options are limited in a single division of competitors, there’s only so much talent and worthwhile challengers. The kind of super-fights fans will fall over themselves to pay for.

That’s what McGregor exposed in 2016 and the upshot of his daring could be the biggest catalyst for change in MMA since The Ultimate Fighter first aired.

Six-foot-eight college athletes up and down the nation are now taking note of what Conor McGregor is earning from the Octagon. His numbers will inevitably turn heads. The average salary in the NBA is around $5m per year, according to Forbes.

The NFL average is as low as $2.1m. Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady hit heights closer to $44m in 2016, Conor’s already about 75% of the way there.

If a 165lb Irishman can make that kind of bank, imagine what a natural athlete weighing more than 250lb could generate with the UFC machine behind him?

In a decade or two, the UFC may have to accommodate a summer draft for the best graduating college fighters. And it will all be because of Conor’s ascension in 2016.

To kick off the year, the new featherweight king defied all convention by ignoring the queuing contenders waiting for a title shot and booked a fight with the 155lb champion, Rafael dos Anjos.

When the Brazilian pulled out of their scheduled matchup at UFC 196, ‘The Notorious’ didn’t flinch. He was happy to fight Nate Diaz at any weight. Welterweight was just fine.

Short notice didn’t matter either. Despite having just 13 days to hype the fight, it attracted more pay-per-view buys than any event since UFC 100.

McGregor-Diaz was box-office gold, but the Irishman’s performance wasn’t.

Despite a strong first round, he gassed in the second and the finish, unsurprising to Nate at least, became a part of UFC folklore. But Conor took the loss like a champ. He regrouped, refused any other fight and got his rematch.

Five months later, at UFC 202, not only did he exact his revenge in one of the fights of the year, the fight broke all UFC PPV records. It topped UFC 100’s 1.6m buys by an additional 50,000 and surpassed a figure that, for years, was thought to be unbeatable.

To cap it all, McGregor became the first UFC champion in history to hold two titles when he obliterated Eddie and added the 155lb belt to the 145lb strap he snatched from José Aldo at the end of 2015.

Jumping between weight classes, so often dismissed as unnecessary by previous top-level champions, has become all the rage over the past 12 months.

No sooner does a UFC belt get wrapped around a waist these days than its new owner starts talking about jumping divisions and replicating Conor’s lead. Cody Garbrandt, Amanda Nunes and Tyron Woodley have all targeted more lucrative matchups.

McGregor has opened UFC stars’ eyes to a whole new world of opportunity. Suddenly, the fighters are trying to take the power back from the matchmakers.

They’re chasing pay-per-view fights like never before, knowing full well that unification matches making the biggest dollars. That’s the impact of Conor McGregor’s year in 2016. A year in which MMA leaped forward once more.

COUNTING CONOR'S 2016