Why Conor McGregor is making UFC the hottest sport around – whether you like him or not – Yahoo Sports

Seldom in sports is there such a perfect storm as Conor McGregor right now. Such a perfect, wild, surreal storm.

Ireland’s McGregor headlines the first UFC show to take place at the hallowed fight sport halls of Madison Square Garden on Saturday, after New York finally legalised mixed martial arts. It comes at a time when Conor is aiming to make history as the company’s first fighter to hold two of their world championships at different weights. And it comes at a time when the controversial star’s publicity circus is reaching an outrageous, unmissable peak.

The reigning featherweight champion isn’t just aiming to cement himself as the franchise player of the sport on Saturday by dethroning lightweight kingpin Eddie Alvarez, either. After his profanity-laced bad behaviour before, during and after his last fight – a revenge win over Nate Diaz at UFC 202 – earned him a hefty punishment from the Nevada Athletic Commission, McGregor vowed to never fight in Las Vegas again.

You read that right: Ahead of their monumental debut at the historic global mecca of combat sports, Conor McGregor swears blind that UFC’s pre-New York home of Vegas will be permanently bereft of their top star.

Long story short: If McGregor beats Alvarez on Saturday, he will effectively drag the heartbeat of an entire sport and a billion-dollar juggernaut from the West Coast of the United States to the East. Single-handedly, too, with a bottle of water he aimed at Diaz and his team in the other hand.

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If Conor’s long-term aim is to wake up the rest of the sporting world to the growing appeal and influence of MMA, it’s hard to deny that it’s working.

In the last year, McGregor has ascended from being a high-profile contender to the man who dethroned Jose Aldo so effortlessly with a 13-second, one-punch victory that it’s fair to say most of us have more trouble swatting a fly in our house than the ‘Notorious’ one did swatting away the five-year reign of the Brazilian.

He immediately set his sights on winning a second UFC belt in quick succession, but previous lightweight titlist Rafael dos Anjos broke his foot. His subsequent decision to instead fight another weight class up, and was defeated at welterweight by Diaz.

Before he avenged that loss at 202, McGregor engaged in an infamous bust-up with Dana White and UFC bigwigs over his increasing media obligations, going as far as to threaten retirement just to prove a point.

McGregor’s point was that he doesn’t need to show up on every American breakfast talk show when he should be preparing for huge fights – especially when he can whip up such a frenzy by verbally tearing into his opponents, causing near-riots at pre-fight pressers and threatening to call it quits in the prime of his career over a media schedule.

Conor continued to demonstrate this in the Big Apple this week, showing up half an hour late to his final press conference face-off with Alvarez and sporting a ridiculous white fur coat before attempting to hurl a chair at Eddie, before the Irishman was dragged off by security.