Conor McGregor's Spiral Since $100M Mayweather Fight

Conor McGregor has won only one UFC fight since walking away from his August 2017 boxing match against Floyd Mayweather with more than $100 million, according to an ESPN long-form investigation published this week. The windfall came with a cost UFC president Dana White predicted at the time: "Money changes everything," he told reporters three months after the bout.

The article traces McGregor's decline from the Toronto press conference stop of the Mayweather world tour, when photographer Esther Lin captured the Irishman matching Mayweather's star power in front of a crowd thick with Irish flags. "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."

Bus Attack and Khabib Loss Mark Career Low

Four months before the Nurmagomedov title fight, McGregor stormed the Barclays Center loading dock with a group of men and threw a metal dolly through a bus window, injuring multiple fighters including Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg. White called it the most disgusting incident in company history. McGregor turned himself in to the NYPD and faced assault charges.

The UFC 229 bout with Nurmagomedov in October 2018 ended in a fourth-round submission loss and a post-fight brawl that led to suspensions for both camps. McGregor returned to beat Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January 2020 for his lone victory since the Mayweather payday, then lost twice to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 and UFC 264, the latter ending with a broken leg.

ESPN's report also documents arrests in Miami and Corsica, ongoing lawsuits, and multiple allegations of sexual assault spanning 2017 through 2021. McGregor has not fought since injuring his leg against Poirier nearly five years ago.

Source: espn.com