'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Conor McGregor is the most polarizing figure in all of MMA. The Irishman's most ardent supporters will excuse every shortcoming 'The Notorious' has suffered in the octagon and, in his past bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., the boxing ring.
Conversely, McGregor's harshest detractors go to great lengths to chip away at the success he's enjoyed in his ongoing UFC career, such as Jorge Masvidal's claim that the Irishman fears a fight with him.
It renders many incapable of objectively assessing the Irishman's accomplishments. While he is not the world's greatest fighter, nor was he ever, he's among the most entertaining figures the sport of MMA has ever seen.
His pressure-based counter-striking style also accelerated the transition of MMA counter-striking to favoring pressure over passive feinting.
Trending
What many might not realize, however, is that Conor McGregor is also one of the sport's most courageous fighters. This list compiles five reasons that justify McGregor's classification as a fearless mixed martial artist.
#5. Conor McGregor fought Chad Mendes with a damaged ACL
During the leadup to McGregor's UFC 189 matchup with Chad Mendes, much was said about the Irishman's supposed vulnerability to wrestling. Many were confident that even without a full camp to prepare him, Mendes' high-level wrestling skills and explosive double-leg takedowns would prove too overpowering for McGregor.
If there had ever been a time for those predictions to have materialized, it was during Conor McGregor's bout with Chad Mendes. 14 weeks prior, the Irishman claimed to have torn 80% of his ACL.
Not only are ACL tears extremely painful, they rob the knee of its stability and mobility. ACL injuries render those who suffer from them unable to plant their injured leg, which is important for defending takedowns, while also causing hyperextension of the knee joint.
That Conor McGregor chose to proceed with the fight against Chad Mendes, knowing he'd have to sprawl and push off a leg with a recently injured ACL to defend his foe's takedowns, was a testament to the Irishman's self-belief and courage.
Other fighters would have withdrawn from the bout. Yet 'The Notorious' chose to compete with a heavily compromised leg, which was evident from his more flat-footed movement during the contest.
#4. McGregor had everything to lose at UFC 194
The UFC, and indeed MMA, have never seen trash-talking at the level it was introduced to during the lead-up to the UFC 194. Conor McGregor entered the UFC with a blistering knockout over Marcus Brimage before disparaging the skills and height of every fighter in the featherweight division. It felt like a declaration of war on an entire weight class.
By the time he'd earned a title fight against the then reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor had the attention of the entire world. A division full of enemies that the Irishman had mocked and needled without mercy awaited what they hoped would be a humbling defeat at the hands of Aldo.
For the bout, the UFC embarked on a world tour, during which McGregor heightened the intensity of his trash talk.
Aldo, who at the time was often regarded with reverence by every other featherweight, was stunned by the Irishman's brash behavior. The sheer volume of trash-talking and maddening promises 'The Notorious' made of an all-conquering performance at UFC 194 placed an enormous amount of pressure on his shoulders.
A loss to Aldo would have sent the Irishman tumbling down the featherweight rankings as the "jester" or "joker" that many featherweights had come to describe him as.
There would have been no return from it given the unbelievable heights of the trash talk he'd leveled at Aldo. UFC 194 was a make-or-break moment for Conor McGregor and he faced it without fear.
He knocked out Aldo — who had reigned as the featherweight champion for almost half a decade and was on an unbeaten run almost twice as long — in 13 seconds. While Aldo lost, his legacy remains unquestioned.
Had McGregor lost, however, his legacy would've been over before it could have even started, yet he dared to put everything on the line nonetheless.
#3. He moved up in weight to challenge the champion in the division above
While champions challenging title-holders in the division above them in a bid to capture a second championship belt has become more commonplace in the UFC today, it was an exceeding rarity a few years ago.
It all began with McGregor. After doing the impossible and defeating Jose Aldo in inimitable fashion to capture the UFC featherweight championship, Conor McGregor quickly set his sights on the UFC lightweight championship.
At the time, the reigning lightweight champion was Rafael dos Anjos, who, like Aldo, seemed unstoppable after dominating Anthony Pettis and crushing Donald Cerrone within a minute of the first round.
McGregor challenged 'RDA' nonetheless, with even UFC President Dana White expressing his doubts over the Irishman's ability to overcome a monster like the Brazilian lightweight.
When Dos Anjos withdrew from the matchup due to injury, McGregor faced Nate Diaz, to whom he lost. After avenging the loss, he challenged the new lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, another wrestler many expected to prey on Conor McGregor's perceived weakness to wrestling.
At the time, many fighters spoke about moving up a division to challenge the reigning champion. Jon Jones has famously been talking about challenging himself at heavyweight for over a decade now. McGregor didn't merely talk about doing so, he actually did so, and succeeded.
#2. Conor McGregor challenged Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his world
After outclassing Eddie Alvarez in one of the finest championship performances ever seen in the UFC, Conor McGregor felt as untouchable as a mixed martial artist ever has.
Somehow, he piqued Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s interest and, more startingly, convinced Dana White to promote a boxing match between him and 'Money'.
Many dismissed the bout as ludicrous and a shameless cash grab, which it, in some ways, was. No one but McGregor himself believed he stood a chance of troubling the great Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match.
However, the trash talk the Irishman leveled at his foe during the promotional phase before the bout was similar to what he'd done to Aldo.
'The Notorious' mocked Mayweather's history of approaching fights with a defensive strategy, before asserting that he came from a world of true combat while 'Money' operated under the safety net of a more restricted rule-set.
From Mayweather's age and size to his alleged illiteracy, nothing was safe as Conor McGregor targeted every single detail about the boxing legend with his vicious trash talk.
While the Irishman ultimately lost the boxing match, as many predicted, he fought with confidence and self-belief that implied how strongly he felt he'd have succeeded.
The courage to not only challenge a man who is arguably the greatest of all time in his respective sport while wholeheartedly believing in his chances at besting him is admirable, to say the least.
#1. He returned to face Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229
After his spectacular failure at defeating Floyd Mayweather Jr., Conor McGregor made his long awaited return to the UFC to face undefeated phenom Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In an ironic twist, the bout with Nurmagomedov — an MMA fighter like McGregor himself — was one the Irishman lost in far more dominant fashion than he did against Mayweather in a sport in which the American is considered, by some, the greatest of all time.
What renders the return to face 'The Eagle' an example of courage is context.
At the time, Nurmagomedov was 26-0, having never lost a single round in his entire MMA career. He'd been active, capturing the UFC lightweight championship that McGregor left vacant during his brief departure from the sport.
The Irishman, on the other hand, had not been involved with MMA in any capacity for two years. Yet, even while out of practice, Conor McGregor dared to challenge one of the sport's most dominant fighters without fear of defeat.
Not many fighters on the roster were willing to face 'The Eagle' after a two-year absence from a sport that evolved as quickly as it did at the time.
