2013-2016 Conor is the greatest peak fighter I've ever seen in MMA

I know Conor is a joke nowadays but sometimes it's hard to remember just how good he was at his peak when he took fighting seriously and didn't have all the money and fame he does today.

From 2013 to 2016 Conor went on an insane run beating Holloway, Poirier, Mendes, Aldo, Diaz, and Alvarez all while becoming the first double champ. What's even crazier is that in that period he missed a year after tearing his ACL, but came back and picked up like he never left. It was truly an unreal run, and seems almost fabricated when compared to the washed up drunk he is today. 2013-2016 Conor is as good as it will ever get in the UFC.
not even a top 5 peak
 
There are many fighters who had longer, sustained success without looking like holocaust survivors and fighting manlets.
 
Aldo is the only elite win in that list without a major asterix on it. Jon Jones had a waaaay more impressive run.

Jones's entire record is one big asterix.
At least Conor wasn't failing test after test.
 
Max was 13. Dustin was a good win as 2 up and comers. Looked like shit against mendes , aldo was a great win. Looked like shit against nate x2 , beat Alvarez. Hardly best run ever.
 
The Job of a Fighter is to sell the fights, and nobody in MMA did it better. There were better fighters, but his KO power combined with his gift of gab was amazing.

I also couldn't stand him and have laughed every time he loses. But you have to give him his due, even if you don't think he was the greatest fighter.
 
It was conors 16th fight and max 10th fight not much difference. Add in that conor tore his acl and fought 1 1/2 rds seriously injured they were very equal in expirence and talent. Also consider max won 10 plus fights right after that loss, I know what I'm watching how about you?

It was Dustin's 20th fight and he had been fighting and beating top 10 ufc talent for years and was in the top 5 of feather weight. Again I know what I'm watching do you?

Dustin still fights exactly the same just is more durable due to less of weight cut
Sure and Conor didn't improve since losing to Artemij Sitenkov.
 
Top-5 UFC peaks in order:
Jones
GSP
Andy
Cain
Usman/Khabib/Ngannou
 
People just discredit Conor because they don't like him, that's literally it. If Poirier or Max did what he did you'd hear Sherdog screaming they're the best of all time.

If max or Dustin lost to Nate, no one would say they are the best of all time. Conor was very good before he stupidly out on weight. But he was never the best fighter in the world.
 
It was conors 16th fight and max 10th fight not much difference. Add in that conor tore his acl and fought 1 1/2 rds seriously injured they were very equal in expirence and talent. Also consider max won 10 plus fights right after that loss, I know what I'm watching how about you?

It was Dustin's 20th fight and he had been fighting and beating top 10 ufc talent for years and was in the top 5 of feather weight. Again I know what I'm watching do you?

Dustin still fights exactly the same just is more durable due to less of weight cut
Max was coming off a loss to Bermudez and a underwhelming split decision to Leonard fucking Garcia. Idiots need to stop pretending Max was a great fighter when Conor beat him
 
Conor’s run to be the “double champ”.

Gets a title shot after beating an old low ranked journeyman (Siver). Beats an off the couch Mendez. Beats Aldo after allowing Conor to habitually abuse and overstep boundaries. Loses to Diaz at WW. Beats Diaz at WW. Then automatically qualifies for a LW title fight, without defending his FW title, robbing Aldo of a rematch. Proceeds to go 1-4.

Truly the stuff of legends.
 
It was stoppable. Mendes almost stopped it on short notice. Frankie might have stopped it if they’d fought. They fast tracked him and it paid off. His win over Aldo was obviously fantastic. It’s unclear if he would have had anything for Max and Volk when they arrived (please don’t cite beating prepubescent Max). His win over Eddie was a tremendous performance as well, more impressive than the Aldo win in some ways. He’s also 2-4 above FW with one of the wins a controversial decision against a guy with 13 losses.

Great early run at FW but unclear if it was sustainable. I’ll always appreciate that run but big picture there are still a lot of unknowns. This is why Khamzat may have been smart to focus on WW while he could still make it, as he now runs the risk that he’ll be just okay at his natural weight.

Dustin and Max weren't at their peak yet when Conor fought them. Those fights are sandwiched between a win over Diego Brandao, which is around the level those other two where seen at around this time.

Conor is a product timing, luck, and preferential treatment from the company. He was able to avoid wrestlers during his ascent, and when he was finally forced to face one, he chose the one without a full camp (Chad Mendes), when he had the choice to fight a fight ready Frankie Edgar (who was also ranked higher than Chad at this point).

“[When Jose Aldo was forced out of UFC 189] he knew Mendes wasn’t in a camp, that he was filming a hunting show and he hadn’t trained in a long time. He knows that Frankie trains all year round and it would’ve been perfect timing. Mendes had just lost the fight before to Aldo. That week, Frankie was ranked ahead of Chad too and they switched it fast after Chad got the fight…Frankie was ranked ahead of him, he had more wins than him. Chad had just lost within two fights prior to the title fight.”

Source

There is also his loss Diaz and his poor performance in the rematch (that many thought he lost as well). He never defended a title or showed an all around MMA game. He was a very exciting and high level striker to watch at one point, the rest is all smoke and mirrors.

This.

McG had a hella impressive run and his wins over Aldo and Alvarez were fookin' amazing. But he dodged both full camp Mendes and Edgar and I think those two would have had his number. The preferential treatment he got and ability to hand pick opponents was a factor in his streak. Even before he beat Aldo, Lorenzo and company were paying for his camps and treating him like the uncrowned cash cow that he was. I think full-camp Aldo could have beaten him in rematch.

So unlike greats like GSP, Anderson and Jones, McG never really cleared out his division. He was still a phenom but doesn't belong in the GOAT discussion.
 
This.

McG had a hella impressive run and his wins over Aldo and Alvarez were fookin' amazing. But he dodged both full camp Mendes and Edgar and I think those two would have had his number. The preferential treatment he got and ability to hand pick opponents was a factor in his streak. Even before he beat Aldo, Lorenzo and company were paying for his camps and treating him like the uncrowned cash cow that he was. I think full-camp Aldo could have beaten him in rematch.

So unlike greats like GSP, Anderson and Jones, McG never really cleared out his division. He was still a phenom but doesn't belong in the GOAT discussion.

Even his wins against Aldo and Alvarez were suspect. Stacking promotional weight against his opponents.

Fans of Conor “Corner Cutter” McGregor are going to have to come to terms with the truth of his manufactured greatness if they want to publicly celebrate his legacy.
 
conor had the balls to fight guys better than him i'll give him that
 
This.

McG had a hella impressive run and his wins over Aldo and Alvarez were fookin' amazing. But he dodged both full camp Mendes and Edgar and I think those two would have had his number. The preferential treatment he got and ability to hand pick opponents was a factor in his streak. Even before he beat Aldo, Lorenzo and company were paying for his camps and treating him like the uncrowned cash cow that he was. I think full-camp Aldo could have beaten him in rematch.

So unlike greats like GSP, Anderson and Jones, McG never really cleared out his division. He was still a phenom but doesn't belong in the GOAT discussion.

Agree. I think the guy who called it “smoke and mirrors” was a little harsh, because there are not many fighters who could have stopped short notice Mendes, Aldo and Eddie like that. Like you said, McGregor was clearly a phenom and it’s hard to argue with the performances.

You do have to wonder how many other guys would have been capable of a run like that had the company rolled out the carpet for them in the same way. Off the top of my head…. Topuria? Arman? Fiziev? Zabit?
 
Aldo could have beat Pettis if Dana let him fight him and Aldo could have been the first double champ, still does not take away from Conor, but really BJ had the chance and Aldo was denied the chance, but peak Conor was spectacular and his fights felt different and people act like it was not special.
 
what asterisks? he beat them all fair and square lol
Yea, don't you know Holloway, Poirier, Mendes, and Eddie are all cans bro?

I mean, why even question a fucking idiot like that, simply don't engage with emotional men like that. He's one of the guys who has to say something contrary to what we all witnessed, simply for his own reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of wins and Conor having great performances during those fights.
 
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