Conor earned the right to be considered for GOAT status when he won the LW belt. He was the first to ever to hold 2 belts at the same time. Even if you hate him with every fiber in your body you HAVE to admit that’s legendary as fuck
He KO’d Aldo in 13 seconds. He made Eddie Alvarez look like an amateur.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 1. The Mayweather fight ruined his MMA career and 2. He shoulda defended his FW belt at LEAST once before vacating it. Would have helped his “legacy” greatly
Imagine a world in which Conor defeats Frankie at 145, and then RDA or Tony at 155. That was possible. You’re right about the Floyd fight. It also gave Khabib time to become champ, and Khabib was always going to fuck Conor up badly.
The guy came into the UFC said what he was going to do and achieved it. Yeah there was some luck and push from the UFC, but he also had some adversity.
It’s not the norm to stay on top like GSP or Silva, most fighters fall off after being at the top!
Is Conor’s run at the top over……Yes, but was it all a myth……No!
When I say goat status I mean putting him in the same category as Anderson Silva, GSP, JBJ, etc. not actually saying he’s the one and single best to ever do it
Conor is the biggest legend in all of sports history with the exception of Muhammed Ali.,
He went mental after the Kahbib losss abecause he knew he could never get a second sho and call himself the King.t. So it does not matter if he beat the next 6 guys. Kahbib will always rule over him being the top.
Conor does not currently belong near any GOAT list. I don’t think he belongs against other two division champions like DC, Hendo, BJ, and Henry Cejudo (funny that so many of the double champs were Olympic wrestlers).
At the time he beat Eddie, however, it was perfectly reasonable to speculate that he was on his way to all-time great status. Time proved that it was not to be. (Similarly, I thought CCC was on his way to all-time great status at the time he beat Cruz. Then he retired.)
Conor had already been finished by Nate and squeeked out a decision in the rematch before the Alverez fight.
Not saying GOAT candidates don’t have losses.
But Conor never looked like a world beater outside of 1 maybe 2 fights, and never defended in those classes to prove it.
The Mendez fight was a good win, but again he looked very beatable there.
Aldo was a huge win, no doubt. Conor’s best win IMO.
But it was like 4 months later Conor was tapping out to Nate Diaz.
Alvarez probably his second biggest win, but again followed by losing to Khabib.
So where was the run?
Where were the defenses?
He looked like a very good striker who might have dominated FW had he stuck to it… But he didn’t.
I don’t think there was ever a real moment were there would have been a consensus that we were looking at a future GOAT.
.
“”"""""""“Conor does not currently belong near any GOAT list. I don’t think he belongs against other two division champions like DC, Hendo, BJ, and Henry Cejudo (funny that so many of the double champs were Olympic wrestlers)”"""""""""
I disagree. The Cowboy fight was a hand-picked opponent to make him look spectacular and warm him up for another title run at LW. That’s why he acted so nice and complimentary to Cowboy like they were old chums giving a little something back to the fans.
Dustin was another hand-picked opponent he was supposed to walk-through as well… until he didn’t.
IMO, Conor benefited immensely from favorable match-making until the UFC brass couldn’t tilt things in his (and their) favor anymore. That’s why he never defended a title nor cleaned out a division.
Granted, he still had to go out there and win in spectacular fashion and channel the spirit of Bruce Lee and look like a character straight out of a movie, but I digress…
