"45 & 55 are the hardest divisions in MMA. Thats how great Conor is. He conquered both"- Chael Sonen

[Son Peyote]

"Dana White's mean, USADA's scary" --- Fedor
"JBJ is too big, I stay in my category" --- Anderson Silva
"TEE JAAAY?!!?!?! Chris Cariaso DESERVES his rematch!" --- Mighty Mouse
"Err I'm closer to 155 than 185. What? Bisping's champ? No problem" --- GSP
"I'm waiting for the right opponent to move up to heavyweight" --- Jon Bones Jones

 

[GOATER]

He didnt conquer LW.

He beat a 5'7 (UFC height stat is wrong)LW Manlet who gets rocked in each fight.


Khabib and ferguson are much better LWs.

 

[KingBeef]

I wouldn't say he "Conquered" 155. Yeah, he beat the champ but that was his ONLY fight at 155.

 

[SVG]

Conor ain't conquered shit until he fights both Tony and Khabib.

Deep down he knows that.

 

[PopeUrbanII]

Not true conquered would mean cleaning out both divisions. And Conor did not do that. He had plenty of good fights that he ran from like a chicken.

 

[Ginn]

He KOed both champs without breaking a sweat.

Conor = GOAT

 

[Megalodon]

'Conquering' the deepest division in MMA in one fight?

Lmao.

 

[Dozer .]

Aldo should have gotten his rematch. Conor only does rematches when he loses the first fight tho.

 

[Bamboozled]

I wouldn't say he "Conquered" 155. Yeah, he beat the champ but that was his ONLY fight at 155.

In the UFC yeah, he's fought at 155 before.

But no he didn't conquer 155. I agree,

 

[20falarVerdades]

MW with Jacare, Luke, Yoel, Weidman, Whittaker is way harder than LW
Also, BW with TJ, Cruz, Cody and Rivera is harder than FW

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

Am I the only one who thinks of this when I hear tony Ferguson?

perhaps I'm dating myself. I'm only 33. A young up and comes.

 

[moreorless87]

Some divisions you can argue beating the dominant champ is the most significant act but 155lbs is the opposite, theres no dominant champ and as much or indeed most of the achievement is actually winning enough to get a shot at the title.

 

[chinarice]

Can Chael actually say a single thing on any subject without bullshitting or giving delusional answers?

 

[NoContest]

Losing to gatekeeper Nate, then barely getting a decision in the rematch isn't conquering the division. More like using a cheat code to get to the final boss.

 

[HwoarangStyle]

Dudes scared to fight top contenders in LW.

 

[TheWobbler]

He KOed both champs without breaking a sweat.

Conor = GOAT

Can't disagree with this. He made two supposedly great fighters and champions look like cans.

He isnt GOAT but if he beats khabib or tony then we can talk.

He conquered 145, still has work to do at 155.

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

he prob used the word conquer just to annoy people - conor's performances are prety damn impressive though against top competition

 

[acannxr]

"Dana White's mean, USADA's scary" --- Fedor
"JBJ is too big, I stay in my category" --- Anderson Silva
"TEE JAAAY?!!?!?! Chris Cariaso DESERVES his rematch!" --- Mighty Mouse
"Err I'm closer to 155 than 185. What? Bisping's champ? No problem" --- GSP
"I'm waiting for the right opponent to move up to heavyweight" --- Jon Bones Jones

@ Chael Sonnen's quote:
The toughest divisions are Lightweight and Welterweight, neither of which McGregor conquered.

@ McGregor and Featherweight run:
He was protected by the UFC through the matchmaking; they only booked Mendes because it was deemed a moderate but necessary risk (short notice for Mendes and they dumped a lot of money into UFC 189).

If you can recall, before Aldo got injured the UFC gave McGregor a title eliminator fight against Siver, who according to FightMatrix' rankings was the number 19th ranked Featherweight in the world at the time (15th if you exclude non-UFC fighters). I elaborated on this subject in another thread:

McGregor's UFC opponents and their worldwide rankings at the time:
Apr 2013: #27 Brimage | Striker
Aug 2013: #67 Holloway | Striker
Jul 2014: #30 Brandao | Striker/BJJ
Sep 2014: #10 Poirier | Striker/BJJ
Jan 2015: #19 Siver | Striker/BJJ *Featherweight Title Eliminator

McGregor leapfrogged all of the contenders in the division (most of whom are wrestlers):

#2 Edgar | Wrestler
#3 Mendes | Wrestler
#4 Lamas | Wrestler
#5 Swanson | Striker/BJJ
#7 Lentz | Wrestler

Nov 2014: #2 Edgar vs. #5 Swanson
Apr 2015: #3 Mendes vs. #4 Lamas
May 2015: #7 Lentz vs. #11 Oliveira

The UFC purposely tied up all the wrestling-contenders and gave McGregor a title elimination fight against #19 Siver, to say that McGregor wasn't protected during his rise at Featherweight is nothing more than denial. I'm not suggesting that McGregor couldn't have defeated them, but to say that McGregor earned a title shot based on the level and styles of his opponents and not simply because of his popularity is hilariously biased.

The UFC did the same thing with Ngannou when he started fighting top ten heavyweights and paired him up only against strikers.

@ McGregor and Lightweight run:
He went 1-1 with Nate Diaz who was the #10 ranked Lightweight at the beginning of 2016 and was allowed to leapfrog all the contenders (just like he did at Featherweight) and fought Alvarez.

Alvarez got a title shot after going 2-1 in the UFC, with both of his wins being split decisions. RDA was fainting the night before the fight due to his weight cut, so I'd put an asterisk next to Alvarez' title win too.

@ McGregor in general:​

He's never defended any title, and one of the reasons I agree with Hughes' often criticized quote that you're not the champion until you've defended it, is because the champion can't be protected by the matchmaking, and in a sport like MMA where styles make fights I can't fault the logic behind Hughes' statement. I'm not trying to suggest that McGregor would have lost decisively against all these contenders he's cut in front of, but the unanswered question of how those fights would've gone will always put his sport-legacy (not to be confused with business-legacy) into question.

 

[trident]

If by conquering you mean one fight and then disappearing for over a year, bingo Chaels right again

 

[fiftywattmafia]

Fought Ed Alvarez at 155. I wouldn’t call that conquering that entire division.

I wish Conor never fought Floyd and stayed at 145. Too many eggs and tenderloin is to blame.