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The way Conor McGregor has transformed the sport of MMA has been nothing short of revolutionary. With his fight IQ, his larger-than-life personality, and his notoriety, the Irishman set himself up to be the biggest UFC star ever. With all the attributes he brings to the table, Conor McGregor is arguably the worst possible match-up for his opponents.
While Conor McGregor is certainly one of the most skilled mixed martial artists with his quick-fire boxing, he is also an alpha when it comes to psychological warfare. The Irishman has been the best in the business at unnerving his rivals with his soul-shaking trash talk.
However, Conor McGregor has faced some opponents who have been impenetrable to his trash talk. Remaining completely unfazed by his mental warfare, these athletes have reduced the Dublin native to just another MMA fighter inside the octagon. Let's look back at such rare incidents.
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Five times Conor McGregor's opponent was completely unaffected by his trash talk:
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#5 - Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 - UFC 202
Ahead of UFC 202, the Irishman claimed to be better prepared to take on the bigger opponent. Despite suffering a humiliating loss against Nate Diaz at UFC 196, Conor McGregor did not go easy on the trash talk. He called Diaz and his team all kinds of names, but the 'Stockton Slugger' remained unfazed.
Nate Diaz responded in his own style by walking out of the conference while flipping his fingers at Conor McGregor before launching a water bottle at him. Despite the Irishman making his plans public to "tee off" on Nate during the fight, the Stockton native was unshaken. Replying to what he expected of McGregor during UFC 202, Nate Diaz said:
"I expect him to be prepared to rock and roll."
During the fight, Nate Diaz was as confident as ever. Despite being knocked down multiple times by Conor McGregor, Diaz dominated a good part of the fight. He gassed out Conor and hurt him in the later rounds, forcing him to move away from the self-proclaimed 'West Coast Gangster'.
When Conor McGregor won the rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202, he could only do so by a razor-thin margin.
#4 - Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez - UFC 205
Conor McGregor faced Eddie Alvarez in 2016 for the UFC lightweight championship. Conquering the featherweight title less than a year before UFC 205 in dominant fashion, McGregor had established himself as one of the baddest men in the MMA organization.
Conor McGregor did his best to trash talk against Eddie Alvarez at the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference. The Irishman snatched Alvarez's lightweight belt and dragged the champion's wife and kids in the argument to irk him. McGregor said:
"His wife and kids will never recognise him again. His friends and the people that he knows will know that he's not the same man after this contest. So he's going to be in a shock when he sees that. That's it."
While Eddie Alvarez even demanded an apology from Conor McGregor, he remained particularly unfazed. In fact, it was Alvarez who got into McGregor's head when 'The Underground King' called out the Irishman for taking welfare that was meant for "single moms."
When Conor McGregor suggested that he was the cash cow behind the UFC's success, Eddie Alvarez destroyed him, saying:
"You were on welfare bro. You ain't no man, you took welfare. Don't you talk about money. You took money from single moms, single moms go on welfare. Don't talk about money. Keep your mouth shut when you talk about money."
Eddie Alvarez remains the only man to date who has managed to shut up the 'Notorious' in a verbal war. That is, of course, until Dustin Poirier said, "Not McGregor Fast, McGregor sleep" at the UFC 264 pre-fight press conference.
#3 - Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 1 - UFC 196
When Rafael dos Anjos pulled out due to an injury before UFC 196, Nate Diaz replaced him to face Conor McGregor in March 2016 on short notice. Conor tried to play his game of mental warfare on Nate with full force, calling the Stockton native a "cholo gangster" and "Nick's little brother."
The Irishman even accused Nate Diaz of being scared to meet him at 155 pounds, but Nate didn't fail to get him back even once. Conor McGregor insulted Nate and his older brother Nick, saying:
"I'd slap the head off your whole team one by one, you and your big brother."
Nate Diaz, though, proved to be impervious to Conor McGregor's trash talk. Diaz boasted about his training team whilst simultaneously insulting 'Notorious' and even causing the crowd to burst into laughter. He said:
"(I've got) top ten jiu-jitsu guys, top ten kickboxers. You're playing touch butt with that dork (Ido Portal) in a park (with) the pony tail. I'm the one who got no training partners? I don't think so. Seems like you've got it all figured out when you're fighting midgets."
The fight at UFC 196 ended with Nate Diaz causing one of the biggest upsets in MMA history by submitting Conor McGregor in round two. Following the win that shook up the MMA world, Diaz showed it was not a big deal for him, asserting how unaffected he was by Conor's mental warfare. He spoke of his win and said:
"I'm not surprised, motherf***ers."
#2 - Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov - UFC 229
Conor McGregor engaged in some severe trash talk against former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. He insulted the Dagestani fighter's culture, religion, father, and even his fighting style. While the trash talk was enough to get any self-respecting person frustrated, 'The Eagle' remained unfazed.
Conor McGregor called Khabib a "backward c*nt," a "glass-jaw rat," and mocked him for staying scared on the bus during the infamous UFC 223 bus incident. 'Notorious' said at the UFC 229 pre-fight press conference:
"I came back for the love of this. To shut this man (Khabib) up, a little rat, a little weasel, a little hard man in groups. I’ve met many of them through my years, a man who grows in numbers, but on his own and when confronted in a similar situation cowers away and that’s what you saw on the bus with that little sh*t over there. He sh*t his jocks after doing something to his own countryman that had nothing got to do with anything."
Khabib Nurmagomedov, with a smile on his face, listened on until his turn came to speak. He said:
"I come here to smash this guy. I don't want to talk.. I think it's going to be a long night for him (Conor McGregor). He knows this. I don't feel nothing (about the trash talk). 6 October."
At UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov gave Conor McGregor one of the worst thrashings of his MMA career. He knocked down McGregor early on and dominated him with his signature ground-and-pound, even asking the Irishman to "talk now."
Of course, the full impact of Conor McGregor's trash talk was revealed during the post-fight brawl. However, 'The Eagle' didn't let the mind games affect his performance against the Irishman.
#1 - Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3 - UFC 264
Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier have a long history that goes back to 2014. At UFC 178, 'The Notorious' and 'The Diamond' locked horns for the first time with a lot of bad blood between them. After knocking out Poirier during their first encounter, McGregor and Poirier met for the second time inside the octagon in 2021, at UFC 257.
This time around, Conor McGregor displayed a transformed personality as he engaged in a world full of niceties with Dustin Poirier. Despite a TKO loss against Poirier and a destroyed right calf, McGregor wished his opponent well and promised to take him on in the rubber match.
It was during their trilogy at UFC 264 that things got spicy once again. Conor McGregor returned to his old ways, dropping major insults on Dustin Poirier. He threatened to murder Poirier inside the octagon and brought the Louisiana native's wife into all of it, as well. He called Poirier a "little bi**h" and a "dog I'm about to put to sleep."
Dustin Poirier remained unaffected during all the trash talk leading up to UFC 264, even when Conor McGregor tried to kick him during a ceremonial face-off. 'The Diamond' explained how he was unfazed by the Irishman's trash talk and said:
"For me, the aura is not there anymore. (He is) a very dangerous fighter sitting here for sure, no doubt, but I see a man. You know, you guys in the crowd.. Cheer it up, have fun.. But I see a man here in front of me that I've defeated and I know I can defeat again."
UFC 264 ended in a freak accident that got Dustin Poirier a TKO win against Conor McGregor. While the Irishman ended up with a broken leg, Poirier came away with a score of 2-1 in the trilogy. After the fight, 'The Diamond' said:
"I can take trash talk right, but murder is something you don’t clown around. And this guy was saying he was going to murder me and all kinds of stuff and he was saying I will leave in a coffin. I hope this guy gets home safe to his beautiful family, you know? He is a dirtbag man.. Karma is not a bit*h, it's a mirror."
