Conor McGregor's Decline: From $100M Payday to Legal Troubles

Conor McGregor has won just one UFC fight since his August 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather — a bout that reportedly earned the Irishman over $100 million and fundamentally altered his career trajectory, according to an ESPN retrospective.

Combat photographer Esther Lin captured the moment McGregor became a mainstream megastar during the Toronto press tour stop that July. "Conor was realizing that he was just as popular as Mayweather and he could have his audience," Lin told ESPN. "He certainly embraced it during the tour and knew exactly how to ride that to the top." The fantasy matchup drew 4.3 million pay-per-view buys and a $55.5 million live gate, second-largest in boxing history.

McGregor's Post-Mayweather Legal Troubles and Fighting Decline

UFC president Dana White predicted the shift immediately. "Conor might never fight again," White told reporters in November 2017. "The guy's got $100 f***ing million ... try to get up every day and get punched in the face when you have $100 million in the bank. Money changes everything." White's words proved prescient as McGregor's behavior spiraled through a series of incidents, per ESPN's reporting.

By March 2018, the promotion stripped McGregor of his lightweight title due to inactivity. A month later came the notorious Barclays Center dolly attack, when McGregor and associates stormed a loading dock and shattered bus windows with a metal dolly, injuring fighters Michael Chiesa, Ray Borg, and Brandon Moreno. White called it "the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company." McGregor faced three assault counts and criminal mischief charges after turning himself in to NYPD.

The subsequent October 2018 loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov kicked off a stretch that saw McGregor go 1-3 in the Octagon, with defeats to Dustin Poirier bookending a lone win over Donald Cerrone. Multiple allegations of sexual assault and additional legal troubles have compounded the sporting decline. McGregor has not competed since injuring his leg against Poirier in July 2021, leaving his return timeline uncertain.

Source: espn.com