Do you think Conor Mcgregor is overrated or underrated these days?

If he adopts a grappling heavy plan and wins against Chandler, then I would say underrated.

Otherwise he's correctly rated by our community, although he may overestimate himself.
 
He was objectively an elite fighter for a while, but is no longer in his prime. It will be interesting to see how he does going forward, as well as what kinds of match-ups he winds up getting.

Beyond all that, it would be hard to overrate his overall impact on the sport.
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
someone else said he shouldn't even be ranked in the top 100.
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This could be a case of conflating two issues.

Some people reasonably think that after a long layoff and leaving USADA, a fighter shouldn't be ranked. That's different than saying a fighter can't beat anyone in the top 100.

I think he's both.
  • Some fans think he'll find the magic touch of 2014 again - they're overrating him.
  • Other fans think he "sucks" - they're underrating him.
UFC Rankings lists the top 16 in each division. I personally think he can beat quite a few LW's on that list, and maybe even several WW's. But that's a meaningless sentiment because his days of climbing the ladder are over. He's simply a money fight guy now.

Needless to say, if he loses to Chandler some folks will say it proves nothing since he's top 5 practically himself - and if he beats Chandler some folks will say it proves nothing because Chandler shouldn't even be top 10 with his recent losses. That's just a 'welcome to sherdog' moment right there.
 
He's a media hype juggernaut. He doesn't even need fight to keep his career going. And even if he does fight he doesn't need to win. He's a unique personality in MMA that others try to emulate...and fail. Fighting is what mad him famous, but not what keeps him famous. I'm not fully convinced he'll even fight again.
 
SeattleFightFan said:
This could be a case of conflating two issues.

Some people reasonably think that after a long layoff and leaving USADA, a fighter shouldn't be ranked. That's different than saying a fighter can't beat anyone in the top 100.

I think he's both.
  • Some fans think he'll find the magic touch of 2014 again - they're overrating him.
  • Other fans think he "sucks" - they're underrating him.
UFC Rankings lists the top 16 in each division. I personally think he can beat quite a few LW's on that list, and maybe even several WW's. But that's a meaningless sentiment because his days of climbing the ladder are over. He's simply a money fight guy now.

Needless to say, if he loses to Chandler some folks will say it proves nothing since he's top 5 practically himself - and if he beats Chandler some folks will say it proves nothing because Chandler shouldn't even be top 10 with his recent losses. That's just a 'welcome to sherdog' moment right there.
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Beating ranked WWs? You’re delusional. And I don’t fancy him against the ranked LW either tbh
 
I tend to think his run at FW is a little underrated by hardcore fans and his career in generally somewhat overrated by casual fans. The Aldo win is a GOAT or near GOAT win historically, but his top wins list is basically Aldo, Alvarez, Mendes, and DP 1. That's not *that* amazing.

Nowadays he simply doesn't fight enough to warrant a ranking in the first place. You can say he's only lost to elite guys (which is true), but he hasn't won a fight against someone high-level in five and a half years.

If someone put a gun to my head to set his current ability, I would say something along the lines of "meaningful puncher's chance against high level guys that are hittable, but underdog against high level guys who can grapple well or blend striking/grappling together".

Chandler is probably the best test for Conor in that regard. If he can't beat Chandler, he doesn't beat too many elite or near-elite guys.
 
Conor has 1 victory since 2017 in two different sports... it's 2023

In terms of GOAT conversation he's only beaten three top 5 ranked opponents in his entire career. Mendez, Aldo, and Alvarez. And in-between Aldo and Alvarez he has a loss... his time on top was very short lived.

Fighters like Chris Weidman had a more impressive career.
 
He got a few lucky wins in a row

shorter the fight, the higher chance for variance

linsanity had a longer peak than McGregor and he only went strong for half an NBA season
 
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Conor at 145, light on his feet with elements of karate/TKD stance and kicks, was an exceptional fighter.

Above 145, he has devolved to represent all of the attributes he mocked LWs for before he moved up.
Slow, predictable, stuck in the mud.
 
Little of both, very polarized views about him which is to be expected of the biggest star in the sport who also happens to be quite controversial.

My personal opinion is the guy is extremely dangerous at the beginning of fights. Add in all the trash talking and big fight atmosphere he was bringing during his run and you have a situation that was hard for a lot of guys to deal with.

But over time, his weaknesses came to light and he no longer had that aura, which I believe was very important to his game. It caused guys to make mistakes and freeze. Don’t get me wrong, he is skilled but I don’t think he can use those tools nearly as effectively without that factor. He got figured out basically and that made him far less intimidating, losing him an essential tool.
 
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In general, he's 100% overrated. I see casual fans on social media daily talking about how Conor deserved a Khabib rematch and how Khabib was ducking him, and how Conor would beat him in a rematch if he was properly motivated and uninjured. They think that prime Conor would beat anyone from featherweight to even welterweight if he was properly motivated.

If you're talking about hardcore fans, such as people on Sherdog, then I'd say he's actually underrated. I think his defensive grappling/wrestling is very overlooked. People on here act as though anyone who has decent wrestling will just annihilate Conor with no issue. Nate might have choked him out, but he only got to that point by rocking him on the feet. Dustin beat him by KO. Literally, the only guy to beat Conor in the UFC via a grappling heavy gameplan is Khabib, and Khabib did that same thing to everyone, so it's not like Conor just had some glaring weakness there. I think Conor's real glaring weakness has always been his cardio - but even that wasn't the thing that made him lose to Dustin.
 
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