Conor McGregor

Overview

Eight of his ten UFC wins ended in a knockout, and one of them took 13 seconds. Conor McGregor, "The Notorious," is a southpaw out of SBG Ireland who debuted in the UFC in April 2013 and now fights at welterweight. His UFC record is 10-5, with no submission wins and no title-fight status our data can confirm either way.

The pattern is simple. When he wins, he finishes: five first-round stoppages and three in the second. When he loses, he loses by stoppage too (three KO/TKO losses, two submission losses), and he carries a three-fight losing streak into his next bout.

Ten wins, eight knockouts. The numbers are lopsided in both directions.

UFC Career

McGregor opened with a 1:07 knockout of Marcus Brimage, then took a unanimous decision over Max Holloway in August 2013. Those are his only two UFC wins that went the distance before the Diaz rematch. In 2014 he stopped Diego Brandao in his first main event, then finished Dustin Poirier in 1:46.

The run built from there. Dennis Siver went in the second round, then came Chad Mendes at 4:57 of round two, and Jose Aldo in 13 seconds in December 2015. Our model rates Mendes and Aldo as elite opponents. That is the seven-fight win streak, his longest in the UFC.

Then it broke. Nate Diaz submitted him in round two at UFC 196, and McGregor answered with a majority decision in the five-round rematch. A second-round knockout of Eddie Alvarez followed in November 2016.

After that the fights came less often. Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted him in round four of a five-round fight in 2018. McGregor returned in January 2020 with a 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone, then lost back-to-back main events to Poirier by KO/TKO, in round two and round one. A later main event against Holloway ended in a first-round KO/TKO loss at 1:09.

Four elite wins early, four elite losses late.

Fighting Style

McGregor is a busy, accurate striker who lands more per minute than most fighters in the UFC. The tradeoff is that he gets hit more than most too, and his defense is only about average.

He rarely shoots for takedowns and doesn't hunt for submissions, but he is hard to take down. He is a standup fighter with little interest in grappling on offense.

His finishing is almost all knockouts. Eight of his ten UFC wins came by KO/TKO, five of them in the first round and the other three in the second. The other two wins went to the scorecards, and none came by submission.

Both of his submission losses came against opponents who got him to the ground. Three of his five UFC losses have come by KO/TKO.

Notable Wins

• Jose Aldo — KO/TKO, round 1 (0:13), UFC 194 (2015)
• Chad Mendes — KO/TKO, round 2 (4:57), UFC 189 (2015)
• Nate Diaz — majority decision, round 5, UFC 202 (2016)
• Donald Cerrone — KO/TKO, round 1 (0:40), UFC 246 (2020)

Quick Facts

• Division: Welterweight
• UFC record: 10-5
• Professional record (all promotions): 22-7-0
• UFC debut: 2013
• Stance: Southpaw
• Reach: 74"
• Team: SBG Ireland
• Born: Dublin, Ireland