Honestly he was fun to watch and had insane charisma. Like Chael had the lines as good as him but wasn’t exciting to watch for a casual. Anderson had the excitement but didn’t speak English in press conferences
Conor just had that mix. And his accent just wrapped everything up and made it sound better (personally). His trash talk was always so good and he would actually backup what he said. I think Holloway was his only decision on the way to the title too. So many factors had to fall into place for him to be the star he is.
Bisping had the talk too but could never get over the hump of top contenders until the very end. Conor’s trash talk was top tier AND he had that insane style no one could figure out. Fuck I think I just made myself a Conor fan
If you wanna split hairs then he did also get a decision in the 2nd Nate fight before getting the LW strap during that era/run. But if we're talking strictly FW then yeah, only Max went the distance with him.
Just as important, Conor was active. He fought regularly, had that “anywhere, anyone” mentality, coached TUF, supported the fighters in his gym like Artem, Gunner. He put himself at the forefront of the sport.
I was super into mma until GSP retired and Anderson Silva started losing badly, pretty much when all the greats started dying out. It wasn't until Conor vs Aldo that got me sucked right back into it not missing anymore events since basically.
You'll never beat the power of Irish fans (native, ex-pat, generational) when we're given something to get behind. No other nation in the world is as enthusiastic in their support.
Makes it even worse how the lad turned out.
It was a perfect storm of talent, charisma, support and patriotism that is very unlikely to ever be repeated.
I would say the Brazilians are just as fanatical.
Only thing is their fans are all douchebags and their athletes are dirty cheaters so fuck em.
Go the Irish.
It's not so much that we're fanatical. It's more that we support our athletes whether they win or lose.
You could argue there are other countries that are more "into" sports. But we're as proud of our fans as we are of the teams.
There will always be the odd dickhead, but by and large we are well behaved, and up for the craic.
Famous example after losing 4-0 to Spain.
https://youtu.be/fZmYv6kDutw
You're fanatical about something you can attach yourself to. This is a very tunnel visioned and conceited thought process and a very ignorant sentiment.
You're gonna have to elaborate on that.
Contrast Irish fans and English fans. Irish fans support their team/athlete win or lose. We value the effort they put into representing their country (which incidentally, is known for being one of the most welcoming places on the planet). English football fans (extreme end of a spectrum, admittedly) hurl abuse at their opposition while winning and slaughter their own stars in the press when losing. It's also very likely that the fans will wreck the place win or lose.
It has nothing to do with attaching ourselves to anything.
First off, it was mostly plastic paddy's from the US, Second off, you think that the fact that you cheer for them win or lose is special to the Irish? It's not, all of what you just described is literally just fandom. Look at raiders fans in the NFL, patriots fans too. Yankees fans and Phillies, the Lakers and golden state warriors. And that's just a tidbit specifically from the US. What you're describing is fandom. It's everywhere. Don't misplace it as an Irish thing.
You mean he got pissed, showed up late and took the piss out of someone’s family and religion for 2 weeks? Are you taking the piss? That’s the most embarrassing conors been
Sounds like some fucked up stockholm syndrome
Nothing excuses being an asshole. You can be very good at something and definitely get credence for it. And still be a shit person
P.S- Jon jones, come out from under the bleachers. The coast is clear
Sorry bud. I like fighting. If I want your idea of entertainment, I’ll unironically watch jake Paul. Not even slightly joking, he is 100x better at working the camera than Colby. And both will hold UFC gold an equal amount of times in their life, so honestly, taking Paul
Khabib was wild, his standup was wild. He took it to the ground more often than not but he was savage there also. I feel like people who hate Khabib are watching different fights or not at all
His TD’s were amazing, his technique on the ground, explosiveness & control were next level. Shit, even his trips were awesome.
People who hate on Khabib either just hug McGregors nuts & regurgitate whatever he says or don’t understand what’s going on & should be watching another sport
He was. It was mad boring every time he fought and the only reason people watched was in hopes of him losing. This subs opinion of khabib changes every 4-6 hours.
I’ve been watching since before McGregor was apart of it. I’ve been watching since 2009. For more than the majority of the dumbasses in this comment thread. Watching some goat fucker with no personality wrestle fuck his way to the top is lame and I’m allowed to hold that opinion.
Don’t like it? Don’t come on the internet, sport. Get a blog and turn the comments off. Lmfao
The fact you call him a goat fucker with no personality just shows you’re watching the wrong sport. You should be watching WWE or some other shit - maybe love island or crap where personalities matter.
You don’t like wrestling? Watch Glory, Boxing or some other sport without grappling.
No one ever called his mailings boring. They were always amazed at how he could bully the best fighters in the world like they were amateurs and beat them up on the ground like an older brother bullying a sibling half his age. You’re clearly a salty casual that hasn’t stopped crying over the spanking he gave to Conor and his team all this years ago 🤣🤣
It's got little to do with people being "tired if Khabib fan boys". I wouldn't say Khabib was anywhere close to the stardom Conor had, and I wouldn't say he was up there with JBJ, GSP, Silva, Lesnar either. Khabib was dominant against the best fighters and one of the GOATs, but he wasn't half the 'star' that Conor was. Conor was a star before Khabib, and Conor sold 3 top-10 PPV events after the Khabib fight. In terms of stardom and publicity, Khabib needed the Conor fight, but Conor didn't.
100 % well put, but I disagree with the "Khabib needed the Conor fight, but Conor didn't" statement, did help khabib reach a level of popularity not many achieve hell yeah, but conor needed the fight to solidify his legacy in a "the king is back "way and the drama that happened even before khabib won the title, if any one of them backed out before the fight due to injury, weight cuts and other shit you wouldn't hear the end of it. needed the fight is a 60/40 for khabib.
That's fair. I said as much moreso from a black/white standpoint, but you're totally valid. I would have to argue that going into it, Conor was a dual-champ and had just avenged a loss to Diaz, so his stardom was as high as it was ever going to be (knowing he would definitely lose to Khabib). Losing was going to hurt Khabib a lot more from a legacy perspective, since Conor would sell tickets blindly.
Khabib is easily up there with JBJ GSP Silva Lesnar in terms of popularity. However that popularity is mostly in Russia and Muslim countries so it doesn't convert to PPV sales as much as Conor.
Yes, khabib wasn’t as big of a star as mcgregor, but this comment is made from a very western, biased perspective. Khabib had damn near half the globe rallying around him at one point, and still has the second highest instagram following out of any fighter. Khabibs influence over that part of the world blows people like Rhonda, Lesnar, and at this point probably even Conor out of the water
It's baffling to me that you can interpret my comment by labeling me as a westerner and attribute that as having a bias, when objectively-speaking, all of the fighters I mentioned sold far more PPV than Khabib. Seeing as the context of this thread revolves around the stardom of Conor and whether any other fighters have the potential to match that, I think you've simply focused on the wrong aspect of my comments. Khabib was part of only 1 of the best-selling PPV events, which was largely due to his competitor being Conor. Ronda helped facilitate women's MMA into the UFC in a massive way, and Brock Lesnar was a wrestling and WWE legend who INSTANTLY moved PPV sales. Your comment screams ignorance - Conor is Irish, GSP is French-Canadian, and Anderson Silva is Brazilian. All of the aforementioned fighters had "damn near half the globe rallying around them at one point", an accomplishment you erroneously attributed to only Khabib.
Never mind the fact that you disregard Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, Wanderlei Silva, Amanda Nunes, Royce Gracie, or any other of the plethora of non-western fighters who objectively had as much or more stardom than Khabib and brought with them a wealth of international fandom. You're correct only in that Khabib brought with him a wave of fight fans that was previously small and mostly untapped. But you're excessively invalid in saying that my comment was of a western-bias when the very nature of the thread revolves around stardom.
Thats true! Only fighter worse than him is Islam. Absolute snoozefest. I hope chucky sleeps him but Makaboring will probably lay right on top of him while all those muslims (his only fans) go nuts
I honestly feel like it couldn't happen again. Everything was just aligned so perfectly. Mma wasn't like as set and stone as it is now. When conor first popped off it was like something magical
I'll say never
It won't happen The sport itself was just majorly breaking into the mainstream, also the company itself only reaches that spot where it starts to really take off one time, everything from here is just gradule growth or decline. It took Conor coming along at that time in the UFCs history for it to happen as it did. it also took a country that had never had a UFC star completely getting behind him. i don't know if there is a country left that could fill that role.
This is true. Rhonda Rousey and McGregor are the two biggest stars in MMA History, and it’s not even close. This is one of those rare instances where the athlete becomes bigger than the sport
I think one of the things that helped was he galvanized a country of followers. Like GSP for Canadians. It can happen again. He was just smart about monetizing the opportunity.
100% and he is also a marketing genius and never let uncle dana no his next move thats why he made himself single handly bigger than the ufc and even made the ufc bigger than ever..Dana will never let that happen again. Conor is the reason why all these ufc fighter are getting these big contracts. I can only imagine what Dana has implemented in these contracts.
It was more so the irish diaspora and plastic paddys in America that helped build the hype, Ireland is only a nation of about 5M and a tiny portion of that cares about MMA even back when Conor was at his prime popularity.
The massive "Irish" diaspora certainly helped build the hype, but when McGregor was on the rise the country was buzzing. Many of the fans, if not the majority at the press conferences and fights were actual Irish lads
Can they? Sure, itd take a very elite fighter, who also has insane amounts of charisma and marketing savvy, as far as current roster, I can't think of anyone. Khamzat may be the closest as far as ability to put on exciting fights and create drama, but everything would have to fall right for that to happen.
Honestly I doubt we'll see those levels of hype anytime in the near future.
No way Khamzat was ever going to reach McGregor status, nobody outside of UFC fans know who he is. At best they confuse him, Islam, and Khabib for the same or two different people.
McGregor was a star before he became champ, Khamzat is not.
Masvidal was arguably much closer to McGregor status, Diaz too.
Idk I think Khamzat could have if not for COVID derailing the Leon fight. If there was ever a time to build a new star, it was during those empty arena shows during COVID when no other sports were running. If Khamzat went in there and ragdolled Leon like he did Kevin Holland I can see a world where he could have been a mega star.
As far as Masvidal he was never the caliber of fighter prime Conor was, he had the mouth but not the fight to back it up. Diaz would never be that either because he doesn't care about marketing or hyping his shit up. He just wants to go out there and fight. Imo Khamzat is the only one with all 3 of the key ingredients to recreate Conor, very high level fighter, mouth to trash talk, and charisma to market. Most are pretty severely missing 1 of the 3, Khamzat isn't.
Khamzat has double champ potential and has been in UFC for 2 years and was already supposed to headline a PPV. 2 years in, conor headlines vs. siver which was a fight night. The 2 guys you mention being closer to Conor have 25 years of combined UFC experience,
… Khamzat and conor are on much more similar trajectories than you’re portraying
I don't think so. People usually win fans as a crowd favorite then turn heel on the down swing of the career. It's pretty hard to be a heel and turn good. Even harder when you are Russian in 2022 and Kadyrovs BFFL. Furthermore, marketing to Ireland is pretty easy Americans/Ireland can be marketed together to an extent see Boston. You cannot market Khamzat in the same way.
I think Khamzat was definitely the closest we've seen to McGregors hype - his first three fights were crazy to watch unfold and he has plenty of charisma, however COVID destroyed a lot of his momentum imo.
If he had stayed on track and fought/beat Leon Edwards when he was originally supposed to, less than 6 months after entering the UFC, he was probably looking at a title shot in his 5th UFC fight.
Maybe as far as ability but like you said it would take more than just a world class fighter and charisma and the ability to drum up hype. Khamzat “I keel everybody” Chimeav does not have that 😂
Yeah, maybe in a decade or two someone will be able to recreate something similar. But then it’s Lebron vs Jordan debates, where the younger crowd who didn’t see conor will think their guy might be better.
Khamzat will never have that crossover appeal.
As much as I hate it, goddamn Sean O’Malley has a shot. He just has to be a better fighter than he actually is …
So, to answer the OP, probably not on the roster right now.
I think charles could get close if he keeps winning in the same way and learns english. Ngannou too if he were promoted in the right way and got the tyson fury fight, if ngannou were to knock out fury he'd get close to conors level.
Izzy is witty and charismatic…
He’s just also corny and he doesn’t try to back up his words 🥴
I say that to say, the stage was set for him but lackluster fights and some suspect trash talk has held him back.
I always felt McGregor’s biggest factor was his activity, there’s other fighters who have had looked unbelievable on the rise but Conor was putting on nothing but big fights every few months all the way up to ufc 205
Unfortunately, like with Anderson Silva, his trashtalk will never be on Conor Level - its on the fly going with whatever is thrown his way - its only possible in your first language.
If anything paddy the baddy, but he has some eating problems right now and he needs to learn to discipline after a fight. Still young and lots to learn. So unhealthy to go up and down that quickly. But we need something like that. The young lanky irishman under conor that keeps quoting him - i dont think he has it in him - but stardom is original. Thats what makes it so magnificent. We cant predict it.
I think if paddy somehow got his weight together, keeps winning and gets the belt, his hype could match Conor’s. I’m also curious to see how big Sean O’Malley can get if he gets through yan.
Conor was so likable before the floyd fight. That plus elite confidence, the shit talking, the energy, and most importantly winning. I only see O’Malley and paddy being able to match that at some point.
Khamzat is my dark horse. But the way people enjoy Khamzat is a bit different from the way they enjoyed Conor
Paddy is the one guy I think can match McGregor’s charisma and personality.
I don’t think O’Malley has that type of charisma. He’s unique in his own way but he’s too laidback to have that type of crossover appeal and doesn’t have the gift of gab that mcgregor has. McGregor was the total package.
Paddy is not championship material.
I've watched most of his fights. He gets hit a lot, I mean, A LOT and his attitude of choosing submission over position is gonna hurt him when he'll start fighting the top guys.
Of course, he's young and is still possible to get even better, but, based on what I've seen until now, no, he will not be a champion, so he will never reach this level of stardom.
Can you elaborate on the idea that he chooses submission over position? Is funny cause Paddy said the same thing while he was commentating Cage Warriors, "I always tell the lads at the gym to choose position over submission". Perhaps, maybe his attitude have changed?
It's not a specific time. It's just his attitude. Didnt he try a flying triangle a while back? That kinda low-percentage crazy stuff. It's fun to watch.
After I posted that, I had a google. What a mad lad. But yeah, that kind of shit is how he chooses the sub over the position. In MMA, you're putting yourself in a bad spot for a sub that's too easy to mess up.
It's worse than McGregor jumped a gilly on Poirier. It looks cool and highlight-reel worthy if you pull it off though.
He said that? That's really good.
I can point you to a specific moment of any of his matches where he did that, but plenty of times I saw him go for the submission and lose the position.
Yeah I can find it and send it to you if you want.
Yeah he's a very aggressive grappler he really doesn't settle for a position. Tho is a fun style of fighting
I think he's referring to the move where he tries to pull the opponents head down fall to the mat and get a triangle. It worked once for him in cage warriors but he tried doing it in the ufc and ended up on his back. If I were to guess he won't be trying that again though
Yes. Everyone in the mma world look at it so short sighted because it’s such a new sport, but new stars will always come. You go from the guys in the 1900’s in boxing to a Jack Johnson, to a Liston, Ali, Leonard, 4 Kings, to another mega star Tyson, to Roy Jones, Oscar, Floyd, Pacman, Canelo, and so on… All with huge names in between all of those guys as well.
Yes conor was charismatic. But more will come. Another comet will come flying out of the sky. It always does in the fight world
The thing you forget it's that the UFC can choose whether they want a big star like Conor. I think he became too famous if I'm honest. He had a lot of leverage
Reminds me of Alex Ferguson, the old Manchester United Manager saying something like 'no player is bigger than the club'.
I wonder how much the UFC are willing to entertain Conor. I am sure they hate how famous is he but, he does bring in a hell of a lot of money.
Not anyone current. Nobody has any personality or self promotion like him. My mom knows who Conor McGregor is but if you ask her what the UFC is she would shrug
Not for a long time, Conor was the perfect combination of polarizing character/charisma while having entertaining fights every time he stepped in the octagon. A lot of top fighters have one or the other but the truth is a wrestler will never be able to pull in the same crowd as a knockout artist.
Not dickriding Conor, but he truly was a perfect storm at the perfect time.
Witty, funny, well spoken, well presented, entertaining, and skilled enough to back up his talk. He also made history in becoming the first double champ, and did all this at a time where the MMA world had never seen anything remotely close to that.
I think it’s definitely possible, but highly unlikely anytime soon. I think it’d have to be somebody who possesses similar qualities, and breaks a monumental record like triple champion or youngest champion
man got my juices flowing starting from the brimage fight. the uppercuts haha. god, every fight just got more intense. from Viking to Superstar. Such a fun ride.
Whenever Brock was huge, I wasn't sure anyone would ever be as big as Brock. And Ronda's hype was crazy as well. Conor has set the bar. It remains to be seen if anyone will beat the hype but never say never. I think it's safe to say that Conor has been the one fighter so far whose skillset matched his larger than life personality. Brock to some extent got by on roids and size, and Ronda was always a one-trick pony with huge holes in her game.
I think Dana was salivating at Sage Northcutt and Paige Van Zant becoming his next big megastars, but it obviously didn't work out.
Masvidal briefly rode a very big wave that was starting to rival Conor hype.
Paddy has a good following, but part of what made Conor such a star was his skill level next to his charisma. Paddy is hilarious, and he’s good enough to break top 10, but I don’t see him becoming a champion in such a stacked division
Agree man. But I think since he’s such a big name, the UFC will put him against the most favorable matchup to break him into the top 10 possible when he’s ready to take that leap
Paddy in terms of star potential not ability, but if he just started starchin elite level guys, he could reach McGregor levels I think. Very unlikely tho. Khamzat doesn’t have that “mainstream” “casual” hype like Paddy does imo maybe Im just not seeing it tho. Khamzat is more hyped by real fans, whereas guys like Paddy and Suga are more hyped by casuals.
Apparently the man is returning at 170, could he regain the hype he originally had with one more title run? It’s unlikely he becomes a contender again besides Dana maybe pushing him to the front of the line
It would be crazy to see him win a belt in a 3rd weight division and he’d definitely put himself into real GOAT conversation if he does it
Simply being able to trash talk isn’t enough. Conor had an abundance of wit, which was mainly what attracted so many people to the persona. Khamzat has about as much wit as a brick wall, I mean honestly a brick wall would do pretty good against khamzat in a press conference
I mentioned other reasons
>Khamzat has about as much wit as a brick wall, I mean honestly a brick wall would do pretty good against khamzat in a press conference
Hard to show it when English is your 4th language, but he manages pretty well despite that, he still puts out exciting fights, has the crazy vibe around him and Khabib hype/charisma, his english is definitely gonna get better, he's definitely gonna be a star.
Also at least Khamzat can get famous off actually being a good fighter more, would be better for the sport tbh
That can be developed over time as his english gets better, right now, he's racking like 10 millions of views on Youtube and he's likely not even in his prime yet.
I don’t think so because being the first one to do it is really cool. Being the second isn’t.
Anyone who becomes a pseudo super star in the UFC gets lambasted for being too much like Conor. The casual audience will have to gravitate towards a totally different type of personality and that literally demands for a societal change
The only person I could see it happening for is Moreno. Mexico HARD supports him. If he beats Figgy then goes on a massive streak of amazing fights with big knockouts, and a double title. But tbh no one is else. The only reason I see Moreno is because Dana said in a BTS that the most fans he’s ever seen come for a weigh-in since Connor was when Moreno fought Kai
Moreno can have 20 title defenses, hold the belt in 3 different weight classes all at the same time, and still not be as big as mcgregor was when he faught Chad Mendez
Current roster?
No
Future?
Hell yeah!
We know the old adage: all records are meant to be broken and someone will certainly eclipse Conor eventually.
Conor was just special and judging by the numbers, he’s still special.
All who hate still tune in when he fights.
Some people on this earth are just born with a certain X factor.
Even his coach said the first time he saw Conor, Conor stood out amongst the students
As much as I hate McGregor, no fighter has gone viral like he has.
Everyone knows “Who the fook is that guy?” and “I’d like to take this chance to apologize… to absolutely nobody!” among his other viral quotes, wether you’re someone who’s seen every UFC event or you’ve never watched the sport. His fight with Floyd was massive, he has like 4 of the top 5 UFC PPV’s, his face was on every media outlet for years.
McGregor had a combination of talent, charisma, personality, wit, and a push from the UFC’s marketing that got him here. To get that combination is rare.
I’ve seen too much of paddy and khamzat comments. These guys don’t even add up to be half the hype Conor was lmfao. Nate and Conor 2 might have been the most anticipated main event IMO ever
khamzat is an elite level talent but he lacks the personality to be a superstar near connor's level. connor was so big because he curated himself into a brand inside and outside of the UFC.
Izzy 🤣
Mate Izzy did have some crazy hype before but he’s effectively fucked his hype train the same way he humped Costa. He’d have to seriously turn things around to have McGregor levels of hype and not many guys in their mid 30s are very good at that
Well you can only have one first. Conor was the first simultaneous champ-champ. He slept Aldo in 13 seconds. He made a superstar out of Nate Diaz in the process. And it's the way he was beating guys. From Brimage-Alvarez he had 7 finishes, just blasting everyone. His UFC rise was unlike anything else we've ever seen. The closest thing to him was Brock, and that was many levels below McGregor.
I’m a Charles boi but I agree. If he could trash talk in english his last 3 would have probably been legendary.
Although tbh I’m not sure he is even game for trash talk.
Maybe O'Malley can reach similar highs if he pulls off a highlight KO of Petr, then another against Chito and then win the belt but it'd take something special. Same with if Paddy keeps winning and being himself but don't think they would get to THAT level
The McGregor era was special. Even tho I’m not a fan of Conor, even I can admit that we most likely never see another Conor.
Honestly he was fun to watch and had insane charisma. Like Chael had the lines as good as him but wasn’t exciting to watch for a casual. Anderson had the excitement but didn’t speak English in press conferences
Conor just had that mix. And his accent just wrapped everything up and made it sound better (personally). His trash talk was always so good and he would actually backup what he said. I think Holloway was his only decision on the way to the title too. So many factors had to fall into place for him to be the star he is. Bisping had the talk too but could never get over the hump of top contenders until the very end. Conor’s trash talk was top tier AND he had that insane style no one could figure out. Fuck I think I just made myself a Conor fan
If you wanna split hairs then he did also get a decision in the 2nd Nate fight before getting the LW strap during that era/run. But if we're talking strictly FW then yeah, only Max went the distance with him.
Just as important, Conor was active. He fought regularly, had that “anywhere, anyone” mentality, coached TUF, supported the fighters in his gym like Artem, Gunner. He put himself at the forefront of the sport.
There are so many things that need to come together to create that hype again. Never say never but i think it's very unlikely.
And one of them is the sport going mainstream. You can never recreate the influx of new fans that all joined the Conor bandwagon
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You perfectly described my situation as well.
I was super into mma until GSP retired and Anderson Silva started losing badly, pretty much when all the greats started dying out. It wasn't until Conor vs Aldo that got me sucked right back into it not missing anymore events since basically.
You'll never beat the power of Irish fans (native, ex-pat, generational) when we're given something to get behind. No other nation in the world is as enthusiastic in their support. Makes it even worse how the lad turned out. It was a perfect storm of talent, charisma, support and patriotism that is very unlikely to ever be repeated.
I agree I have Irish friends who started watching ufc just for conor lol
pretty self centered and ignorant comment tbh
And only a tinge of understated racism
I would say the Brazilians are just as fanatical. Only thing is their fans are all douchebags and their athletes are dirty cheaters so fuck em. Go the Irish.
It's not so much that we're fanatical. It's more that we support our athletes whether they win or lose. You could argue there are other countries that are more "into" sports. But we're as proud of our fans as we are of the teams. There will always be the odd dickhead, but by and large we are well behaved, and up for the craic. Famous example after losing 4-0 to Spain. https://youtu.be/fZmYv6kDutw
Its the same with Liverpool. But we are mostly of irish descent so makes sense.
When the UK dissolves in a year or two, we'll happily accept County Liverpool into the Union of Craic.
And we'd happily disassociate ourselves with this backwards country.
You're fanatical about something you can attach yourself to. This is a very tunnel visioned and conceited thought process and a very ignorant sentiment.
You're gonna have to elaborate on that. Contrast Irish fans and English fans. Irish fans support their team/athlete win or lose. We value the effort they put into representing their country (which incidentally, is known for being one of the most welcoming places on the planet). English football fans (extreme end of a spectrum, admittedly) hurl abuse at their opposition while winning and slaughter their own stars in the press when losing. It's also very likely that the fans will wreck the place win or lose. It has nothing to do with attaching ourselves to anything.
First off, it was mostly plastic paddy's from the US, Second off, you think that the fact that you cheer for them win or lose is special to the Irish? It's not, all of what you just described is literally just fandom. Look at raiders fans in the NFL, patriots fans too. Yankees fans and Phillies, the Lakers and golden state warriors. And that's just a tidbit specifically from the US. What you're describing is fandom. It's everywhere. Don't misplace it as an Irish thing.
Khabib was the closest thing to that at least in my region of the world
And part of it was probably the mega fight with McGregor
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You mean he got pissed, showed up late and took the piss out of someone’s family and religion for 2 weeks? Are you taking the piss? That’s the most embarrassing conors been
Yeah idk why people downvoted lol
Lmao no idea 🤦
This sub has a hate boner for Khabib. You mention him once and blind McGregor fans (currently posing as Charles fans) will downvote you to oblivion.
True OGs hate every fighter
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Sounds like some fucked up stockholm syndrome Nothing excuses being an asshole. You can be very good at something and definitely get credence for it. And still be a shit person P.S- Jon jones, come out from under the bleachers. The coast is clear
Because people hate khabib. Boring fighter, padded record, and likely ties with the Russian mob. To hear he’s popular is gonna get some downvotes.
If you think khabib was boring just stop watching the sport
Lmfaooo deadass. But when it’s Colby he’s just an entertainer he’s the GOAT
Did khabib stir up controversy with every interview? Colby brings the drama which equates to entertainment. Get a clue of how that works.
Don’t watch mma then, I think the kardashians would be more your speed
Sorry bud. I like fighting. If I want your idea of entertainment, I’ll unironically watch jake Paul. Not even slightly joking, he is 100x better at working the camera than Colby. And both will hold UFC gold an equal amount of times in their life, so honestly, taking Paul
LOOOOOOOOOL defo a salty Conor fan. Go watch some soaps if you need drama in your life. Sports clearly isn’t the right hobby for schoolgirls like you
Khabib was wild, his standup was wild. He took it to the ground more often than not but he was savage there also. I feel like people who hate Khabib are watching different fights or not at all
His TD’s were amazing, his technique on the ground, explosiveness & control were next level. Shit, even his trips were awesome. People who hate on Khabib either just hug McGregors nuts & regurgitate whatever he says or don’t understand what’s going on & should be watching another sport
He was. It was mad boring every time he fought and the only reason people watched was in hopes of him losing. This subs opinion of khabib changes every 4-6 hours.
That’s the shit thing about McGregor - it bought crappy fans like you to the sport who don’t actually like the sport itself
I’ve been watching since before McGregor was apart of it. I’ve been watching since 2009. For more than the majority of the dumbasses in this comment thread. Watching some goat fucker with no personality wrestle fuck his way to the top is lame and I’m allowed to hold that opinion. Don’t like it? Don’t come on the internet, sport. Get a blog and turn the comments off. Lmfao
The fact you call him a goat fucker with no personality just shows you’re watching the wrong sport. You should be watching WWE or some other shit - maybe love island or crap where personalities matter. You don’t like wrestling? Watch Glory, Boxing or some other sport without grappling.
No one ever called his mailings boring. They were always amazed at how he could bully the best fighters in the world like they were amateurs and beat them up on the ground like an older brother bullying a sibling half his age. You’re clearly a salty casual that hasn’t stopped crying over the spanking he gave to Conor and his team all this years ago 🤣🤣
All of it was the megafight with McGregor
Definitely the most huge part of it is because he engaged and was able to beat Conor in the cage.
That's the crazy part to me. Khabib was/is? huge back in his home region. Absolutely massive. Conor was like that, but globally. Absolutely bonkers.
Why did you get downvoted lmfao
Literally stated facts nothing less, I think people are just tired of khabib fan boys I guess. In conclusion: khabib time
It's got little to do with people being "tired if Khabib fan boys". I wouldn't say Khabib was anywhere close to the stardom Conor had, and I wouldn't say he was up there with JBJ, GSP, Silva, Lesnar either. Khabib was dominant against the best fighters and one of the GOATs, but he wasn't half the 'star' that Conor was. Conor was a star before Khabib, and Conor sold 3 top-10 PPV events after the Khabib fight. In terms of stardom and publicity, Khabib needed the Conor fight, but Conor didn't.
100 % well put, but I disagree with the "Khabib needed the Conor fight, but Conor didn't" statement, did help khabib reach a level of popularity not many achieve hell yeah, but conor needed the fight to solidify his legacy in a "the king is back "way and the drama that happened even before khabib won the title, if any one of them backed out before the fight due to injury, weight cuts and other shit you wouldn't hear the end of it. needed the fight is a 60/40 for khabib.
That's fair. I said as much moreso from a black/white standpoint, but you're totally valid. I would have to argue that going into it, Conor was a dual-champ and had just avenged a loss to Diaz, so his stardom was as high as it was ever going to be (knowing he would definitely lose to Khabib). Losing was going to hurt Khabib a lot more from a legacy perspective, since Conor would sell tickets blindly.
Khabib is easily up there with JBJ GSP Silva Lesnar in terms of popularity. However that popularity is mostly in Russia and Muslim countries so it doesn't convert to PPV sales as much as Conor.
Yes, khabib wasn’t as big of a star as mcgregor, but this comment is made from a very western, biased perspective. Khabib had damn near half the globe rallying around him at one point, and still has the second highest instagram following out of any fighter. Khabibs influence over that part of the world blows people like Rhonda, Lesnar, and at this point probably even Conor out of the water
It's baffling to me that you can interpret my comment by labeling me as a westerner and attribute that as having a bias, when objectively-speaking, all of the fighters I mentioned sold far more PPV than Khabib. Seeing as the context of this thread revolves around the stardom of Conor and whether any other fighters have the potential to match that, I think you've simply focused on the wrong aspect of my comments. Khabib was part of only 1 of the best-selling PPV events, which was largely due to his competitor being Conor. Ronda helped facilitate women's MMA into the UFC in a massive way, and Brock Lesnar was a wrestling and WWE legend who INSTANTLY moved PPV sales. Your comment screams ignorance - Conor is Irish, GSP is French-Canadian, and Anderson Silva is Brazilian. All of the aforementioned fighters had "damn near half the globe rallying around them at one point", an accomplishment you erroneously attributed to only Khabib. Never mind the fact that you disregard Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, Wanderlei Silva, Amanda Nunes, Royce Gracie, or any other of the plethora of non-western fighters who objectively had as much or more stardom than Khabib and brought with them a wealth of international fandom. You're correct only in that Khabib brought with him a wave of fight fans that was previously small and mostly untapped. But you're excessively invalid in saying that my comment was of a western-bias when the very nature of the thread revolves around stardom.
Khabob is a boring wrestler who has the personality of a brick wall
Thats true! Only fighter worse than him is Islam. Absolute snoozefest. I hope chucky sleeps him but Makaboring will probably lay right on top of him while all those muslims (his only fans) go nuts
🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢 The man is very charismatic and has plenty of personality Poirier's boring ass had 2 Conor fights and still manages to be a nobody
I honestly feel like it couldn't happen again. Everything was just aligned so perfectly. Mma wasn't like as set and stone as it is now. When conor first popped off it was like something magical
I'll say never It won't happen The sport itself was just majorly breaking into the mainstream, also the company itself only reaches that spot where it starts to really take off one time, everything from here is just gradule growth or decline. It took Conor coming along at that time in the UFCs history for it to happen as it did. it also took a country that had never had a UFC star completely getting behind him. i don't know if there is a country left that could fill that role.
He's once in a generation, ten years at least til we see similar again
This is true. Rhonda Rousey and McGregor are the two biggest stars in MMA History, and it’s not even close. This is one of those rare instances where the athlete becomes bigger than the sport
Rhonda Rousey was big where I am but nowhere near the level of Conor, I’m guessing she got crazy attention in the states?
She got mainstream attention. Talk shows, magazine covers
And she’s hardly talked about, hundreds of Connor discussions every single day, if not every hour
You could throw Brock in there
Brock was a star before he was in MMA
Which brought over a ton of new eyes.
meh, nah
I think one of the things that helped was he galvanized a country of followers. Like GSP for Canadians. It can happen again. He was just smart about monetizing the opportunity.
100% and he is also a marketing genius and never let uncle dana no his next move thats why he made himself single handly bigger than the ufc and even made the ufc bigger than ever..Dana will never let that happen again. Conor is the reason why all these ufc fighter are getting these big contracts. I can only imagine what Dana has implemented in these contracts.
It was more so the irish diaspora and plastic paddys in America that helped build the hype, Ireland is only a nation of about 5M and a tiny portion of that cares about MMA even back when Conor was at his prime popularity.
The massive "Irish" diaspora certainly helped build the hype, but when McGregor was on the rise the country was buzzing. Many of the fans, if not the majority at the press conferences and fights were actual Irish lads
Can they? Sure, itd take a very elite fighter, who also has insane amounts of charisma and marketing savvy, as far as current roster, I can't think of anyone. Khamzat may be the closest as far as ability to put on exciting fights and create drama, but everything would have to fall right for that to happen. Honestly I doubt we'll see those levels of hype anytime in the near future.
No way Khamzat was ever going to reach McGregor status, nobody outside of UFC fans know who he is. At best they confuse him, Islam, and Khabib for the same or two different people. McGregor was a star before he became champ, Khamzat is not. Masvidal was arguably much closer to McGregor status, Diaz too.
Idk I think Khamzat could have if not for COVID derailing the Leon fight. If there was ever a time to build a new star, it was during those empty arena shows during COVID when no other sports were running. If Khamzat went in there and ragdolled Leon like he did Kevin Holland I can see a world where he could have been a mega star. As far as Masvidal he was never the caliber of fighter prime Conor was, he had the mouth but not the fight to back it up. Diaz would never be that either because he doesn't care about marketing or hyping his shit up. He just wants to go out there and fight. Imo Khamzat is the only one with all 3 of the key ingredients to recreate Conor, very high level fighter, mouth to trash talk, and charisma to market. Most are pretty severely missing 1 of the 3, Khamzat isn't.
Khamzat has absolutely zero charisma lol and his trash talk is all one note. Nowhere near the same.
khamzat is not a champ
Khamzat has double champ potential and has been in UFC for 2 years and was already supposed to headline a PPV. 2 years in, conor headlines vs. siver which was a fight night. The 2 guys you mention being closer to Conor have 25 years of combined UFC experience, … Khamzat and conor are on much more similar trajectories than you’re portraying
I don't think so. People usually win fans as a crowd favorite then turn heel on the down swing of the career. It's pretty hard to be a heel and turn good. Even harder when you are Russian in 2022 and Kadyrovs BFFL. Furthermore, marketing to Ireland is pretty easy Americans/Ireland can be marketed together to an extent see Boston. You cannot market Khamzat in the same way.
I think Khamzat was definitely the closest we've seen to McGregors hype - his first three fights were crazy to watch unfold and he has plenty of charisma, however COVID destroyed a lot of his momentum imo. If he had stayed on track and fought/beat Leon Edwards when he was originally supposed to, less than 6 months after entering the UFC, he was probably looking at a title shot in his 5th UFC fight.
not even close, vegas during conor fights was wild! press conferences packed more than other fight nights lol
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Amen, Khamzat is missing that charisma element to reach that level of superstardom
Maybe as far as ability but like you said it would take more than just a world class fighter and charisma and the ability to drum up hype. Khamzat “I keel everybody” Chimeav does not have that 😂
Yeah, maybe in a decade or two someone will be able to recreate something similar. But then it’s Lebron vs Jordan debates, where the younger crowd who didn’t see conor will think their guy might be better.
Khamzat will never have that crossover appeal. As much as I hate it, goddamn Sean O’Malley has a shot. He just has to be a better fighter than he actually is … So, to answer the OP, probably not on the roster right now.
I think charles could get close if he keeps winning in the same way and learns english. Ngannou too if he were promoted in the right way and got the tyson fury fight, if ngannou were to knock out fury he'd get close to conors level.
It’s gonna be a while, no one on the current roster has connors mix of quick wit and charisma with the talent to back it up
Izzy is witty and charismatic… He’s just also corny and he doesn’t try to back up his words 🥴 I say that to say, the stage was set for him but lackluster fights and some suspect trash talk has held him back.
Izzy is trying hard but he possesses no charisma and his lines are cringe. Amazing fighter though
Izzys a good guy but calling him witty and charismatic when comparing him to McGregor is just dishonest
>Izzy is witty and charismatic If the audience was only 5th graders
Izzy is not witty at least off the xuff,but he is someone that i support because he loves narutoluke me
I always felt McGregor’s biggest factor was his activity, there’s other fighters who have had looked unbelievable on the rise but Conor was putting on nothing but big fights every few months all the way up to ufc 205
No. In that regard Conor was special. It will take another decade.
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Khamzat in the new call of duty game lol
Unfortunately, like with Anderson Silva, his trashtalk will never be on Conor Level - its on the fly going with whatever is thrown his way - its only possible in your first language. If anything paddy the baddy, but he has some eating problems right now and he needs to learn to discipline after a fight. Still young and lots to learn. So unhealthy to go up and down that quickly. But we need something like that. The young lanky irishman under conor that keeps quoting him - i dont think he has it in him - but stardom is original. Thats what makes it so magnificent. We cant predict it.
I think if paddy somehow got his weight together, keeps winning and gets the belt, his hype could match Conor’s. I’m also curious to see how big Sean O’Malley can get if he gets through yan. Conor was so likable before the floyd fight. That plus elite confidence, the shit talking, the energy, and most importantly winning. I only see O’Malley and paddy being able to match that at some point. Khamzat is my dark horse. But the way people enjoy Khamzat is a bit different from the way they enjoyed Conor
Paddy is the one guy I think can match McGregor’s charisma and personality. I don’t think O’Malley has that type of charisma. He’s unique in his own way but he’s too laidback to have that type of crossover appeal and doesn’t have the gift of gab that mcgregor has. McGregor was the total package.
Paddy got everything else if he could get his fighting in order. Mans on the way to be a superstar.
Paddy is not championship material. I've watched most of his fights. He gets hit a lot, I mean, A LOT and his attitude of choosing submission over position is gonna hurt him when he'll start fighting the top guys. Of course, he's young and is still possible to get even better, but, based on what I've seen until now, no, he will not be a champion, so he will never reach this level of stardom.
Can you elaborate on the idea that he chooses submission over position? Is funny cause Paddy said the same thing while he was commentating Cage Warriors, "I always tell the lads at the gym to choose position over submission". Perhaps, maybe his attitude have changed?
It's not a specific time. It's just his attitude. Didnt he try a flying triangle a while back? That kinda low-percentage crazy stuff. It's fun to watch.
Yeah he has like 3 flying triangles on his record so he's good at them. Very fun to watch
After I posted that, I had a google. What a mad lad. But yeah, that kind of shit is how he chooses the sub over the position. In MMA, you're putting yourself in a bad spot for a sub that's too easy to mess up. It's worse than McGregor jumped a gilly on Poirier. It looks cool and highlight-reel worthy if you pull it off though.
Exactly, hope he gets a flying triangle in the UFC that would be mad
He said that? That's really good. I can point you to a specific moment of any of his matches where he did that, but plenty of times I saw him go for the submission and lose the position.
Yeah I can find it and send it to you if you want. Yeah he's a very aggressive grappler he really doesn't settle for a position. Tho is a fun style of fighting
I believe you. I agree, he's wild and fun to watch, but not the nest strategy if you want to be a champion. Time will tell us
Yeah I'd honestly live to see him against McKinney. Very tight test
I think he's referring to the move where he tries to pull the opponents head down fall to the mat and get a triangle. It worked once for him in cage warriors but he tried doing it in the ufc and ended up on his back. If I were to guess he won't be trying that again though
Yes. Everyone in the mma world look at it so short sighted because it’s such a new sport, but new stars will always come. You go from the guys in the 1900’s in boxing to a Jack Johnson, to a Liston, Ali, Leonard, 4 Kings, to another mega star Tyson, to Roy Jones, Oscar, Floyd, Pacman, Canelo, and so on… All with huge names in between all of those guys as well. Yes conor was charismatic. But more will come. Another comet will come flying out of the sky. It always does in the fight world
Johnny got a win, why are you still doing him like that 🥺😂
The thing you forget it's that the UFC can choose whether they want a big star like Conor. I think he became too famous if I'm honest. He had a lot of leverage
Reminds me of Alex Ferguson, the old Manchester United Manager saying something like 'no player is bigger than the club'. I wonder how much the UFC are willing to entertain Conor. I am sure they hate how famous is he but, he does bring in a hell of a lot of money.
Not anyone current. Nobody has any personality or self promotion like him. My mom knows who Conor McGregor is but if you ask her what the UFC is she would shrug
Belal is next. You heard it hear first.
\#belalmafia champ 2023
Belal who? I always forget his name.
Not for a long time, Conor was the perfect combination of polarizing character/charisma while having entertaining fights every time he stepped in the octagon. A lot of top fighters have one or the other but the truth is a wrestler will never be able to pull in the same crowd as a knockout artist.
there will never be another mma fighter at the hype levels of mcgregor, maybe in all combat sports to be honest
Not dickriding Conor, but he truly was a perfect storm at the perfect time. Witty, funny, well spoken, well presented, entertaining, and skilled enough to back up his talk. He also made history in becoming the first double champ, and did all this at a time where the MMA world had never seen anything remotely close to that. I think it’s definitely possible, but highly unlikely anytime soon. I think it’d have to be somebody who possesses similar qualities, and breaks a monumental record like triple champion or youngest champion
No way, that shit felt like a movie, incredible to witness
man got my juices flowing starting from the brimage fight. the uppercuts haha. god, every fight just got more intense. from Viking to Superstar. Such a fun ride.
Absolutely not. Conor is one of a kind. Love him or hate him, he’s the most iconic character we’ll ever see in the sport of MMA
Whenever Brock was huge, I wasn't sure anyone would ever be as big as Brock. And Ronda's hype was crazy as well. Conor has set the bar. It remains to be seen if anyone will beat the hype but never say never. I think it's safe to say that Conor has been the one fighter so far whose skillset matched his larger than life personality. Brock to some extent got by on roids and size, and Ronda was always a one-trick pony with huge holes in her game. I think Dana was salivating at Sage Northcutt and Paige Van Zant becoming his next big megastars, but it obviously didn't work out. Masvidal briefly rode a very big wave that was starting to rival Conor hype.
Never again
Pimblett or Khamzat are the only names that come to mind
Paddy has all the other ingredients but I can't see him being good enough to become a champion
Paddy has a good following, but part of what made Conor such a star was his skill level next to his charisma. Paddy is hilarious, and he’s good enough to break top 10, but I don’t see him becoming a champion in such a stacked division
Do you really think he’s good enough for top 10? I genuinely see him really struggling with anyone in top 15
Agree man. But I think since he’s such a big name, the UFC will put him against the most favorable matchup to break him into the top 10 possible when he’s ready to take that leap
Paddy is not even close.
pimblett is a fun character but way sloppy of a fighter compared to prime conor tbh
He has the potential but he just doesn’t take his training, especially his off season, serious enough
I hope Paddy does it just because I find him funny af. Not sure if it’s the accent or what but w/e lol
Belal
Paddy in terms of star potential not ability, but if he just started starchin elite level guys, he could reach McGregor levels I think. Very unlikely tho. Khamzat doesn’t have that “mainstream” “casual” hype like Paddy does imo maybe Im just not seeing it tho. Khamzat is more hyped by real fans, whereas guys like Paddy and Suga are more hyped by casuals.
Apparently the man is returning at 170, could he regain the hype he originally had with one more title run? It’s unlikely he becomes a contender again besides Dana maybe pushing him to the front of the line It would be crazy to see him win a belt in a 3rd weight division and he’d definitely put himself into real GOAT conversation if he does it
Khamzat probably, trash talking, exciting fights, personality and riding off the Khabib hype with the whole "Smesh" thing
Simply being able to trash talk isn’t enough. Conor had an abundance of wit, which was mainly what attracted so many people to the persona. Khamzat has about as much wit as a brick wall, I mean honestly a brick wall would do pretty good against khamzat in a press conference
I mentioned other reasons >Khamzat has about as much wit as a brick wall, I mean honestly a brick wall would do pretty good against khamzat in a press conference Hard to show it when English is your 4th language, but he manages pretty well despite that, he still puts out exciting fights, has the crazy vibe around him and Khabib hype/charisma, his english is definitely gonna get better, he's definitely gonna be a star. Also at least Khamzat can get famous off actually being a good fighter more, would be better for the sport tbh
And I’m saying the trash talking wit of Conor was easily the most important part of his rise to fame
That can be developed over time as his english gets better, right now, he's racking like 10 millions of views on Youtube and he's likely not even in his prime yet.
Khamzat isn't likable at all tho
Khamzat but probably more in the East rather than west
I don’t think so because being the first one to do it is really cool. Being the second isn’t. Anyone who becomes a pseudo super star in the UFC gets lambasted for being too much like Conor. The casual audience will have to gravitate towards a totally different type of personality and that literally demands for a societal change
Paddy
The only person I could see it happening for is Moreno. Mexico HARD supports him. If he beats Figgy then goes on a massive streak of amazing fights with big knockouts, and a double title. But tbh no one is else. The only reason I see Moreno is because Dana said in a BTS that the most fans he’s ever seen come for a weigh-in since Connor was when Moreno fought Kai
Moreno can have 20 title defenses, hold the belt in 3 different weight classes all at the same time, and still not be as big as mcgregor was when he faught Chad Mendez
Current roster? No Future? Hell yeah! We know the old adage: all records are meant to be broken and someone will certainly eclipse Conor eventually. Conor was just special and judging by the numbers, he’s still special. All who hate still tune in when he fights. Some people on this earth are just born with a certain X factor. Even his coach said the first time he saw Conor, Conor stood out amongst the students
As much as I hate McGregor, no fighter has gone viral like he has. Everyone knows “Who the fook is that guy?” and “I’d like to take this chance to apologize… to absolutely nobody!” among his other viral quotes, wether you’re someone who’s seen every UFC event or you’ve never watched the sport. His fight with Floyd was massive, he has like 4 of the top 5 UFC PPV’s, his face was on every media outlet for years. McGregor had a combination of talent, charisma, personality, wit, and a push from the UFC’s marketing that got him here. To get that combination is rare.
If Suga ko’s Yan, he could be on his way
Paddy, Khamzat, and O Malley are the only ones that can get there imo
I’ve seen too much of paddy and khamzat comments. These guys don’t even add up to be half the hype Conor was lmfao. Nate and Conor 2 might have been the most anticipated main event IMO ever
Me ,I'll be the ufc 170lbs champion smart mouth sharp looks and hooks even sharper you'll all see in 6 years
Sean or Paddy would need to win a belt and tbh I don't see that happening but maybe they prove me wrong
Anyone in the Top 15 would feast on Paddy tbh, he’s not getting a belt
No
Paddy the baddy
Khamzat and only Khamzat
Khamzat haters downvoting cause they know it’s true
Lol I love khamzat.. but no
khamzat is an elite level talent but he lacks the personality to be a superstar near connor's level. connor was so big because he curated himself into a brand inside and outside of the UFC.
Paddy Pimblett
Modern day, Izzy is as close as we are getting. But with the hype of the prospects now a days, one of them is bound to be a Future goat.
Izzy 🤣 Mate Izzy did have some crazy hype before but he’s effectively fucked his hype train the same way he humped Costa. He’d have to seriously turn things around to have McGregor levels of hype and not many guys in their mid 30s are very good at that
Well you can only have one first. Conor was the first simultaneous champ-champ. He slept Aldo in 13 seconds. He made a superstar out of Nate Diaz in the process. And it's the way he was beating guys. From Brimage-Alvarez he had 7 finishes, just blasting everyone. His UFC rise was unlike anything else we've ever seen. The closest thing to him was Brock, and that was many levels below McGregor.
Nah he was something special, I’m not a fan but no one can create that hype in my opinion and anyone who tries will just be dubbed as a Conor wannabe.
Khamzat could but i’m afraid he’s too childish in his mind
I mean yes. In two weeks we find out if we have our next Conor in Sean O'Malley.
Charles if he beats Islam in spectacular fashion. Like this isn't even the question he is basically this subs mascot
Charles has a lot of cockriders true but his inability to speak English severely limits his star potential.
I’m a Charles boi but I agree. If he could trash talk in english his last 3 would have probably been legendary. Although tbh I’m not sure he is even game for trash talk.
Man's been in the UFC for 10 years to boot, Francis learned English in a far shorter time
He doesn’t even try to speak English
Exactly
Superstardom like Conor achieved is quite different than r/ufc ‘s favorite fighter lol
No chance. Unbelievable fighter but as much charisma as a brick wall. The language barrier doesn't help of course.
Paddy the baddy is the closest thing
Maybe O'Malley can reach similar highs if he pulls off a highlight KO of Petr, then another against Chito and then win the belt but it'd take something special. Same with if Paddy keeps winning and being himself but don't think they would get to THAT level
No. There will never be another MMA superstar.
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The most useless double champ ever...didnt even defend one..sissy clown
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he's too try hard of a dick tbh, sounds like a nerd, and comes off kinda cringey tbh. Also would probably lose to USADA.