Motley’s Editor-in-Chief Eoin McSweeney argues that the UFC double champion can lay claim to the coveted title

As Conor McGregor stepped into the ring on Saturday night (Sunday morning for those of us this side of the world) there were questions to be answered. The world wasn’t satisfied with his demolition of opponents in the mould of Brandao, Poirier and Siver; they were all dominos waiting to fall on an easy path to a title fight. Chad Mendes had the ground game that everyone was waiting for, but as soon as McGregor was standing there was no looking back. The excuses then were that Mendes had stepped in on short notice and wasn’t fighting fit while McGregor had been preparing for a title fight. His spectacular 13 second knockout of Jose Aldo, a champion that hadn’t lost in ten years, was deemed to be a ‘lucky hit’.

Then we look at the Nate Diaz saga. Sure he was beaten in the first, but what great champion hasn’t lost and come back stronger? In a punishing five round sequel McGregor proved he could go the distance against a man that would normally be two weight classes above him. He fought adversity and he won. There was mooted talk of a chance for McGregor to win a second belt and when the fight against Alvarez was confirmed in September the world once again stood up to take notice. And wow did McGregor deliver.

This time there are no excuses. Both men were in the ring with the same preparation time fighting for a belt and McGregor dominated from start to finish. It only took 45 seconds for him to rock Alvarez, and the lightweight champion couldn’t keep up with the pace and fury of the featherweight title holder in the second round. There are no cries of luck now, no shouts of derision, no begrudging voice. There is just noise and applause for the man who rules MMA.

It begs the question: Is Conor McGregor the greatest Irish athlete of all time? Compiling a list of Ireland’s greatest sportspersons will always be a matter of debate, from the questions of how you measure greatness to how global an athlete has to be, but hear me out on this one.

McGregor’s fight at Madison Square Garden decimated all sorts of records, many of which were McGregor’s in the first place. Dana White has already confirmed that UFC 205 broke the company’s pay-per-view record of 1.65 million buys for 202 and it is reported that McGregor earned $40 million in 2016. A stunning feat was the smashing of MSG’s previous best-selling gate; the event brought in $17.7 million in ticket sales while the old record was only $13.5 million for a 1999 boxing card headlined by Lennox Lewis vs. Evander Holyfield. Maybe the most impressive achievement is that McGregor is now the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously. McGregor is MMA and without him the organisation wouldn’t be what it is today.

Of course, Ireland has a rich history of stupendous athletes. At one stage Brian O’Driscoll held the record for the most international caps globally and in his career won three Heineken Cups, a Grand Slam and another Six Nations Championship, four Triple Crowns and four Celtic Leagues. He also captained the Lions and his country, is the Six Nations all-time top try scorer, was shortlisted for the IRB International Player of the Year three times (the fact he never won the award is a mystery) and is rightly regarded as the greatest second-centre of all time. But the numbers don’t tell the full story and we also remember the genius of the man when looking back at some of his passes, tackles and tries.

Katie Taylor is a 5-time amateur world champion and Olympic Gold Medallist. For many years she was the face of female boxing and when her big chance came in 2012 with the introduction of the sport to the Olympics she took it with both hands. In 2016 her light dwindled somewhat with disappointing performances at the World Championships and Olympics, but her legacy will live on as the greatest female athlete Ireland has produced on the international stage.

Cycling has never been the most popular sport in Ireland, but in 1987 Stephen Roche produced a stunning performance, winning the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia stage races, plus the World road race championship. Roche’s rise coincided with that of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly, who was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s. He won 193 professional races and nine monumental classics.

Roy Keane is a legend of football and moved to Manchester United from Nottingham Forest in 1993 for £3.75 million, a British transfer record at the time. He became a legendary captain of the club and helped them to seven Premier League titles during his twelve years in Manchester. His individual performance against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final in 1999 will go down as one of the greatest ever as he helped haul his team to a 3-2 victory. His Irish career will be remembered for his performance against The Netherlands in 2001 and the subsequent debacle at the 2002 World Cup.

Of course there are also our own sports that we must look to for inspiration. Hurling great Henry Shefflin won an incredible 13 Leinster titles, 10 All-Irelands and 11 All Stars for Kilkenny. He also won 3 All-Ireland titles with his beloved Ballyhale Shamrocks in a career that transcended all before him (even Christy Ring’s). While it is difficult to argue that Shefflin wasn’t the greatest hurler of all time, it is a more contentious debate in Gaelic football. Pat Spillane is a name that stands out, but others will argue that Jack O’Shea and Mikey Sheehy were equally as impressive.

In golf, Pádraig Harrington is often overlooked in the debate. He became the first European to win a Major in 8 years when he claimed the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie and the first to defend that title since 1906 with a victory a year later. He then became the first European to win back to back major titles when he took the PGA Championship in Oakland Mills, Michigan in the same year. A case could be made also for Rory McIlroy, but along with George Best, Joey Dunlop and AP McCoy, it is a debate in itself whether their place of birth precludes them from the discussion, something which isn’t to be argued today.

Notable mentions must also be given to a whole other range of athletes. Ron Delaney won gold in the 1,500 metres at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, Sonia O’Sullivan won silver on the track in Sydney and Steve Collins was a WBO middleweight and super-middleweight champion. But Conor McGregor may have transcended each of these imperious specimens in New York.

While looking at the achievements of some of these athletes, a few things stand out. Firstly, not all of them owned their sport. When you think of rugby you picture the likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Jonah Lomu, despite O’Driscoll’s achievements, and the grit of Roy Keane is not what is imagined when the likes of Pelé, Maradonna and Messi are in the discussion. Despite Harrington’s incredible feats in 2007 and 2008 he is a long way off being considered the greatest ever golfer.

McGregor is almost larger than the UFC itself. He draws the biggest gates, has the most people watching and he backs up his talk with stunning performances against the best in the world. If there was ever a fight featuring McGregor in Croke Park tickets would be like gold dust – just to see one man fight. You also have to remember that most of his fights are in the early hours of the morning here; if they were at prime hours can you imagine the hysteria at bars across the country?

Katie Taylor was certainly the poster girl for female boxing. Her dominance of the sport was unparallelled and that was obvious when winning gold in 2012. Yet McGregor has been able to prove his worth across three weight divisions and doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon. Henry Shefflin has been described as a God of hurling, but can we compare that to what McGregor has achieved? He is the most famous Irishman alive at the moment and is taking the world by storm. On our island of 5 million people Shefflin is known to everyone, but McGregor is a global phenomenon.

Some will say that MMA isn’t yet an established sport, but this is a tragedy of ignorance. McGregor has had to hit and get hit just as many times as Harrington has sunk and missed a putt. He’s poured every millilitre of sweat into mastering his sport that O’Driscoll did. He won a fight with a torn ACL through guts and determination we only thought Keane was capable of. He’s also flabbergasted audiences with his skill and poise, something Shefflin and Spillane did for years in Croke Park. We forget too that McGregor is only 28 and there is much more to come from the Crumlin man.

I would argue that McGregor’s dominance of his sport, combined with its global appeal makes him Ireland’s greatest athlete. No other Irish person has captivated a worldwide audience like he has and he is the face of the MMA across the globe. It’s a debate for the ages, but in my opinion it’s closed for the time being.