Wins ‘Best Fighter’ ESPY
McGregor wins the ‘Best Fighter’ award at the ESPYs, beating welterweight champ Robbie Lawler, and boxers Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Roman Gonzalez. He loses the ‘Best Breakthrough Athlete’ award to Chicago Cubs ace pitcher Jake Arrieta.
2nd in LA Times MMA power rankings
McGregor is ranked second in the LA Times ranking of the top ten power rankings. Daniel Cormier takes the top spot.
McGregor’s laser-focused ability to win a fight 25 pounds above his normal weight class moves him closer to the top of The Times’ MMA power rankings…After defeating Nate Diaz, McGregor left the arena wanting his next fight to be his own choice. He’s hoping to become the UFC’s first-ever simultaneous two-belt champion, so lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez seems his favored opponent.
Confirmed as the biggest ticket in UFC history
UFC numbers confirm McGregor is the biggest draw in the sport. McGregor has headlined three of five pay-per-view events that gained more than a million buys in the past ten months. Including his strong performance as the headliner of UFC 189, McGregor has sold a total of 5,275,000 pay-per-views in four outings at the top of the card. For comparison, Georges St-Pierre’s last six efforts after UFC 100 sold 4,635,000. The four cards Brock Lesnar headlined between 2009 and 2011 had 4,095,000 total buys. Also, each of the four events McGregor has headlined in Las Vegas produced more gate revenue than any prior show held in the city.
MSG gate record broken
White says UFC 205 has already broken the all-time gate record at Madison Square Garden. The gate record was set in 1999 with a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis which drew takings of $13.5 million at the door. The UFC’s own gate record of just over $12 million was set at UFC 129 when more than 55,000 people paid in to see Georges St-Pierre defeat Jake Shields in Canada.
We’ve been in all the biggest and best arenas all over the world – Madison Square Garden is a big deal. All the legendary fights that have been held there, all the legendary events and we actually broke the gate record for Madison Square Garden. So far, so good. I’m excited…Obviously it’s our first time getting into MSG and it’s been such a big deal getting there [that] I wanted to make sure when we went to New York.
.@ufc President @danawhite joined the Game 3 pregame show to discuss #UFC205, #CLEvsCHC & of course @PeteRose_14. https://t.co/otCsHJWIqx
— FS1 (@FS1) October 29, 2016
$20 million payday
McGregor will earn around $20 million from his fight with Alvarez. $5m comes from his fight fee plus sponsorship money, mainly from Reebok, then a share of the PPV revenue, which looks set to top the number of buys for his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202
Sets MSG gate record
UFC 205 sets a gate record of over $17million (£13.5m). The previous record was set by Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis in 1999. White:
I wanted to make sure when we went to New York, we delivered. It’s the biggest, baddest card we’ve ever done in the history of the company.
Second in UFC pound-for-pound rankings
McGregor rises to second place in UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, behind flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and leapfrogging both Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz.
UFC 205 generated 14 Billion social media impressions
UFC 205 generated 14 Billion social media impressions, which consist of Facebook likes, Twitter interactions and Instagram shares. By comparison the most recent Superbowl achieved 4.3 billion impressions. While the Euro’s in France earlier this year earned 3 billion.
Nominated for RTÉ Sportsperson of the year
McGregor makes the shortlist for the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year. Other sportspeople shortlisted include rugby player Jamie Heaslip, boxer Carl Frampton and Olympic rowing medalist Paul O’Donovan. The winner is determined by fans, who can vote for McGregor by texting ‘I’ to 53125 (Ire & NI only), or by voting online here. Voting closes Monday 12 December at 10am with the winner announced live on Saturday 17 December. The award ceremony will be screened the same day at 9pm.
147th ranked in sport and entertainment world
McGregor places 147th in Fansided.com’s annual Fandom250 list, which charts the fanbases of some of the most famous names across the world of sports and entertainment. McGregor is the highest mixed martial artist to be included, ahead of Brock Lesnar (214) and Ronda Rousey (230). He is the eleventh ranked sports star on the planet, with only the likes of LeBron James, Lionel Messi and Muhammad Ali above him. Fansided:
Conor McGregor has the most loyal and faithful fans in combat sports. As Mark Wahlberg put it, the UFC’s reigning lightweight champion has become “the face of the UFC,” and that’s largely due to his signature trash-talking, over the top fashion sense and natural charisma.
GQ’s ‘Most Stylish Man of the Year’ nomination
McGregor is nominated as a contestant in GQ Magazine’s ‘Most Stylish Man of the Year’. The contest is in the form of a tournament bracket, with 64 contestants. McGregor’s first round match-up is against comedian Kevin Hart. If he wins, McGregor will face the winner of Drake and DJ Khaled in the second round. Voting is here.
Both men here are known for putting stitches in people (that is, the literal kind and the ROFL kind). When it comes to their personal style, both have displayed a level of fearlessness that should be commended. Hart prides himself on his humble attitude and dedication to fitness, while McGregor is a braggadocios cage fighter with a dedication to not giving a damn what anyone thinks. (The man wears fur coats like the rest of us wear peacoats.) Where Hart makes up ground is with his Nike deal, which allowed him to design and release his own sneaker in 2016.
Ireland’s Most Admired Sports Star of 2016
McGregor is named ‘Most Admired Sports Star’ in Ignite Research’s ‘Sports Sentiment Index’ getting 16% of the vote. Katie Taylor takes second place, with 14%. From a sample of 1,000 adults aged 18 to 65, one in every three aged 18 to 34 say McGregor is the Irish sportsperson they admired most. McGregor beating Alvarez is the second most memorable moment, and McGregor winning two belts is voted the third greatest sporting achievement of the year.
Named RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year
McGregor is awarded RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year. As part of the show McGregor talks in a video about his success, and about fighting Floyd Mayweather.
I can go now and conquer the boxing scene. That’s a very serious thought and a very serious conversation that is happening. I certainly don’t need him (Mayweather). I pick some local schmuck and still do big numbers. Of course the Floyd fight is the fight the public want to see. It’s the fight we all want to happen.
Conor McGregor talks to Clare McNamara after a year which he call the 'culmination of his life's work'. https://t.co/0AY8QPqGyu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 17, 2016
Knockout of the Year nomination
McGregor’s four punch combination knockout of Eddie Alvarez that secured his second UFC title last month in New York is nominated as one of four candidates for UFC Knockout of the Year. The other nominees are Stipe Miocic, Fabricio Werdum, Paige VanZant and Bec Rawlings.
Third place in CBS ‘Fighter of Year’ awards
CBS Sports gives McGregor third place in its UFC Fighter of the Year award.
Now, before you start throwing stones, please remember that McGregor is the only fighter on this list to even suffer a loss in 2016. The Irishman continues to do some of the craziest things in the sport, bringing in more fans than any other fighter. McGregor fought twice at 25 pounds above his original weightclass. People questioned McGregor’s decision to take on Diaz at 170 pounds originally in March and those calls got louder after he lost via submission. But when he came back in August and earned a majority decision win, as has been the case throughout his UFC career, Conor got the last laugh.
First place goes to heavyweight Stipe Miocic.
GQ: McGregor fourth best dressed man of the year
GQ Magazine names McGregor as the fourth the best dressed men of 2016. The list was compiled by Giorgio Armani, Sarah Burton, Tom Ford, Elton John, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood. Drake beats lat year’s winner, Eddie Redmayne, to the top of the chart. McGregor:
There are two things I really like to do and that’s whoop ass and look good.
SI.com’s MMA Fighter Of The Year
McGregor is awarded SI.com’s MMA Fighter Of The Year.
Entering 2016, McGregor was established as the brightest star in the sport, and by the end of the year he was the sport as he transcended into the mainstream and earned S.comI’s MMA fighter of the year award. His pursuit of two titles was a storyline that played out over nearly the whole calendar year and transfixed fans. He headlined the biggest event in the sport’s history with one of its most iconic moments. Even though he was temporarily sidetracked from his ultimate goal by Nate Diaz, he smashed pay-per-view records in every one of his fights…In pop culture, McGregor made appearances on late night television shows like Conan and garnered a role in the forthcoming season of Game of Thrones. He played a character in the latest Call of Duty game. He was tapped for a role in the new xXx movie before pulling out to focus on the Diaz rematch. His trademark strut has become iconic in sports with world-class athletes around the globe mimicking the champion. Cristiano Ronaldo went and trained with McGregor in Las Vegas and McGregor went to Jennifer Lopez’s birthday party.
Named one of Forbes ‘30 under 30 Europe’
McGregor is named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Europe list. Forbes:
Known for his aggressive fighting style, this versatile mixed martial arts fighter has both lightweight and featherweight championships under his belt. And The Notorious, as he’s known, is making money with every punch: A single fight in August earned him a $3 million purse.
McGregor, Rousey biggest part of 2016 record UFC PPV views
McGregor and Rousey drew the biggest pay-per-view buys in a record year for the UFC. Approximately 8,370,000 buys were sold on 13 shows in 2016, an all-time record average of 644,000 buys per show. This compares with 550,000 average per show in 2015 and 265,000 in 2014. Most shows were small but McGregor, Rousey, and UFC 200 did one million buys plus. With Rousey’s future undetermined, and McGregor taking a break, the outlook for 2017 is weak.
Named most marketable Irish person for 2017
McGregor is named the most marketable Irish person for 2017, beating 2016’s number one Paul O’Connell who now lies in second place after his rugby retirement. Robbie Henshaw is third, followed by Katie Taylor. On McGregor’s success, the company that ran the survey says:
I think it’s ultimately down to momentum, a lot of brands try to align themselves with where there is momentum. They want to be associated with success.