Can someone explain how did Conor McGregor become so popular?

From what I can tell, he was given a huge initial push from the UFC because he had the potential to be a huge draw from a country they hadn't quite sealed the market on yet: Ireland. So they threw themselves behind him and gave him as much attention as possible so that they could get that business from the Irish fans. That worked, and as expected, that snowballed onwards. Because he got so much attention from Irish fans, that spread elsewhere (UK especially). I live in Scotland, and before Conor McGregor, I never heard anyone other than guys I trained with ever talk about anything or anyone MMA related. And I started hearing people talk about Conor around the time of the Mendes fight.

I think his popularity largely came from the fact that Ireland didn't have any big stars, and the UK doesn't have many either, and since the UK is right next to Ireland and has certain connections, they latch onto that too. And when you have so many people from a country supporting you, it's only natural that that popularity will spread as others hear you talking about that person or see the person on TV (which comes from the opportunities that were made from having such a vocal fanbase in the first place).

Conor is great at trash talk, but he is by no means the best. Conor is great at fighting, but he is by no means the best. If Conor was born in America, I don't think he'd be the star he is today. I think his stardom all stems from the fact that he was born in Ireland, and Ireland didn't have any big MMA stars yet.
 
In terms of popularity, Conor McGregor is the White Man of Muhammad Ali.

No one in MMA or Boxing is popular than Conor McGregor right now, not even the "Hall of Fame" UFC fighters. Everyone who just started watching combat sport talks about him and already sees him as an influential icon when there were dozens of MMA fighters who have accomplished better than him.

So, it got me wondering how did this man became so popular? Did social media played a huge role in this?

If you don't understand already, you're better off leaving your cave and entering the world for once.

Even the haters know why he is popular.
 
Same reason Notre Dame football is so popular: fans love the fighting Irish. They are just adorable little people.

Adorable little people who've earned more Medals of Honor than rest of the recipients combined.
 


He ktfo some guy and said "60g's baby!" and everyone wanted to see more.

Then knocked more guys the fuck out, and kept talking shit, well.

Great fight style + great talker.
 
Look likes a Viking and fights like Bruce Lee

He didn’t just knock them out he choose the round .

After his first UFC event in Sweden he had he media wrapped around his finger . I remember the fans in Sherdog also getting excited ad comparing him to Anderson . I was awesome knowing our little island finally had a fighter who could possibly be the GOAT one day
 
Consistently knocking out guys even at the elite and GOAT levels of the game.

He also showed casuals MMA isn't all about laying ov guys for 25 minutes after GSP being the face of MMA for years
 
He, Chael and others are simply using old-school pro wrestling/Ali promotion tactics, where you get heat on you however you can. Whether they pay to see you win or pay to see you lose, you are always winning.
 
Total package. He’s an Irish Anderson Silva with Ric Flair gimmick.
 
In terms of popularity, Conor McGregor is the White Man of Muhammad Ali.

No one in MMA or Boxing is popular than Conor McGregor right now, not even the "Hall of Fame" UFC fighters. Everyone who just started watching combat sport talks about him and already sees him as an influential icon when there were dozens of MMA fighters who have accomplished better than him.

So, it got me wondering how did this man became so popular? Did social media played a huge role in this?

Because he carried the nation of Ireland in the mma world, never has been an Irish win a belt in a prestigious mma organization.

Same can be said about GSP winning the belt and representing mma in Canada. (Newton did first in the infant years of mma).

Same as Rousey as the 1St female UFC Champ.
 
I guess you weren't paying attention whatsoever.
 
He had a big following on the board before he even debuted in the UFC because of his fighting style.
 
Having charisma and the "It" factor, knowing how to promote himself, and having elite-level combat skills.
 
Nogueira bros still angry at Conor for attacking the bus, poor animal did nothing wrong.
 
It's because he was very different from the start, and was an extremely arrogant shit talker that was actually pretty funny in the beginning. He then went on to keep winning.

From there, he created two enormous fanbases; ones that loved his ego and wanted to see him keep winning, and another that hated it and wanted to see him lose. He draws everyone in because of that.
 
How did Ronda Rousey become popular? The UFC Hype Machine. It can make any man or women popular.

You have to keep winning and I'd say Conor did a better job than anyone ever of promoting himself.

Hype machine made Ngannou huge but he didn't have the skills and confidence to keep winning.
 
The McGoat stuff was legit a meme at first, but the guy kept winning so eventually the lines got blurred

He gained a bit of traction with his trash talk for the Aldo fight, then because of how quickly he KO'ed him it got shared around all over the internet which is how he got into the mainstream
 
Conor's two biggest fanbases are greedy hipster liberals and shut-ins and there happen to be a ton of each these days. Society is a hole.
 
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