Conor McGregor silenced many of his doubters by knocking out Chad Mendes in the main event of UFC 189 despite having just two weeks to prepare for him. Between McGregor's trash talk, and his ability to prove his mettle against top competition, McGregor established himself as one of the UFC's biggest stars.
In fact, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has crowned him the single biggest "MMA fighter" in the sport.
"Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in the UFC, across all platforms," Cormier said. "She's a movie star. Conor McGregor is the biggest MMA fighter in the world. I will say that without question, because of what he's done, not only with his mouth but also with his skill inside the Octagon."
According to Cormier, McGregor's talking goes beyond bragging. McGregor has impressed Cormier with his ability to dictate verbally what he will do, and then execute.
"Calling your shot?" Cormier said. "When you can start doing stuff like that ... Muhammad Ali called his shot. Even going all the way back to Babe Ruth calling his shot.
"When you start calling your shots and you start doing it, people buy into that and they really do attach to you. And that's what you're seeing with Conor McGregor. I think in terms of an MMA fighter, not everything else, just in MMA I think Conor McGregor is the biggest star we have in the UFC."
That is a bold statement by Cormier, who is also one of the company's biggest stars. The regular featherweight champion Jose Aldo would likely disagree with Cormier's assessment, as would former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was stripped of his title but never lost it inside the octagon.
McGregor's metoric rise in a short period of time is another layer to Cormier's thought process.
"Two years," Cormier said. "This guy has done this in two years."
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