Conor McGregor has now gone the longest of any UFC Champion to not defend their title
Conor McGregor is continuously setting records. Apparently not all of them are good though. According to Nick Dwyer of Everlast, Conor McGregor’s lightweight title reign has broken the record for the longest time a UFC champion has gone before first attempting to defend the belt.
This little piece of information will fuel haters for a lifetime. Conor McGregor is already one of MMA’s most controversial athletes. They’ll say that he’s scared. They’ll say that he’s a paper champion. They might even say that he’s only in this for the money. But they’d all be wrong.
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Conor McGregor isn’t afraid to fight. He’s taken massive risks in order to get to where he is today. Analysts said that he never faced a wrestler. So he beat one of MMA’s best wrestlers, Chad Mendes. They then said he wouldn’t beat the greatest featherweight in UFC history, and then he put Jose Aldo to sleep in 13 seconds.
McGregor then suffered a loss at the hands of Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout. Instead of trying to pretend like it never happened, he took the rematch and bested Diaz at UFC 202. Then after winning the UFC lightweight title, McGregor took on the greatest challenge of all in boxing Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
This is why I could not care less about this record. Because it’s not like Conor McGregor has been sitting at home on the couch. The man was training for and then fighting arguably one of the greatest boxers of all-time. I’m not sure people truly understand how big of a deal this really was.
McGregor stepped outside of his own sport and went 10 rounds with a boxer who was 49-0 at the time, while McGregor had zero professional or amateur boxing experience. That’s insane. So I don’t care that he didn’t defend the lightweight title. The man was too busy making history.
McGregor has accomplished things that no other fighter has. He’s changing the game and for the betterment of future fighters to come. So while people hate on the man out of pure jealousy, they should be thanking him for his contributions to MMA. Conor McGregor has set the blueprint. People should be taking notes rather than taking jabs.