Photo by Cyclone Promotions
Conor McGregor, the brazen UFC superstar, is the self-proclaimed “King of Dublin,” sporting good looks and even better looking knockouts.
UFC president Dana White as taken a special interest in the Irishman’s talents admitting on UFC Tonight that the company spent more money, $10 million to be exact, promoting June 11’s UFC 189—which originally featured featherweight champion Jose Aldo who has now been replaced by Chad Mendes—than any other event in promotional history.
‘Countdown to UFC 189’ video http://t.co/Fj9fZOjebA pic.twitter.com/2izzqFXZTT
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) July 6, 2015
The UFC is set to make him the face of the entire promotion is he delivers this weekend.
But is he the face of Irish combat sports outside of mixed martial arts?
Is the best Irish fighter in the world?
He isn’t the only Irishman backed by the powers that be. (Let’s be liberal with the term Irishman and include Northern Ireland, shall we?)
Boxing world champions Carl Frampton (out of Belfast) and Andy Lee (who represented Ireland at the 2004 Olympic games) are both advised by the reclusive Al Haymon, otherwise referred to as the most powerful man in the sport.
Like McGregor, Lee, the current WBO middleweight champion, has two losses on his record (34-2-1). Unlike McGregor (17-2), the Emanuel Steward-trained southpaw’s reported payout breaks half a million dollars, raking in $625,000 (which includes Peter Quillin’s $125,000 penalty for not making weight) in his most recent outing under the Premier Boxing Champions banner in April which peaked at 3.07 million viewers, per MMAPayout.com.
Photo by Rich Schultz
McGregor reportedly took home $230,00 ($85,000 to show and $85,000 to win) when he knocked out perennial contender Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 59 earlier this year that includes a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus.
Of course, those numbers don’t include sponsorships and other unofficial payments the UFC is known for handing out backstage. McGregor also has “solo” sponsorship deals with Reebok and Monster Energy, per MMA Mania.
McGregor’s last fight also became the most-watched MMA event on cable since 2009, peaking at 3.162 million viewers—just a shade above Lee’s bout. There’s no doubt the UFC star is polarizing and very marketable.
Numbers on Frampton, however, aren’t as clear. The last time he was a “B-side,” he pulled in a payday of just over $160,000 (per Belfast Telegraph) in his second fight with Kiko Martinez—who made twice as much.
Now under the counsel of Haymon, though, “The Jackal” is set to make serious money when he returns to the ring at the end of July. His opponent Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. isn’t anybody to write home about but Leo Santa Cruz, another Haymon-advised super bantamweight champion, regularly earns over $700,000 for kicking over tomato cans.
But many a fighter throughout history have pulled in big crowd numbers and big paychecks. It ultimately doesn’t matter what you say in front of a microphone or the money you take home, but what you do in between the opening bell and the last.
Despite what he might say, McGregor isn’t the best featherweight in MMA; he isn’t even in second place. He takes on sequestered No. 2 145-pound man Chad Mendes at UFC 189. If he beats him, which won’t be easy, he still has to dethrone lineal champion Jose Aldo.
#UFC189 @TheNotoriousMMA Will Intimidate Infuriate Dominate All At Once Story: http://t.co/t0K0eeUavC pic.twitter.com/YfZUUoNia9
— UFC (@ufc) July 8, 2015
But he does rank inside the division’s Top 5, per Sherdog.com, even having only beaten one real top-10 fighter in Dustin Poirier.
That, however, is more than what Andy Lee has accomplished in recent memory.
“Irish” was on his way to outboxing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012 but stopped moving his feet before succumbing to a TKO in Round 7. He’s remained undefeated since, battling back from relative obscurity to unlatch his lethal right hook to knockout John Jackson and Matt Korobov in come-from-behind wins.
But the only top-tier middleweight—as in one actually ranked in the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board at the time—Lee has faced since Chavez is Peter Quillin, who he never actually defeated.
McGregor, undefeated in the UFC at 5-0 (including four knockouts), can say he (albeit very slightly) holds a better resume than Lee. He just may not make as much money.
Frampton, ironically, hasn’t pulled in the purses McGregor and Lee have but his ledger of quality wins upstages both of them.
After winning British-level titles, The Jackal’s first marquee win came over Martinez in 2014. At the time, the Spaniard was trying to shake off the gatekeeper label.
When the two met for a second time, however, Martinez was at the top of his game and a fixture in the TBRB’s Top 5, having defeated other ranked men Jhonatan Romero, Jeffery Mathebula and two-weight world champion Hozumi Hasegawa.
Photo by Kelvin Boyes
Which made it all the more spectacular when Frampton surgically took Martinez apart again, winning wide all three scorecards (119-108, 119-108 and 118-111) and becoming the first Northern Irishman to win a world title in 18 years.
A thumping over another top-5 super bantamweight in Chris Avalos this February was as brilliant as much as it was grimacing as Frampton laid combinations into the swarming Avalos at will en route to a brutal Round 5 referee stoppage.
The knockout segregated Frampton away from the rest of the division and alongside lineal champion Guillermo Rigondeaux as the very best the 122-pound weight class has to offer.
McGregor can do the same to his standing in the UFC’s featherweight division provided he pulls out a win over Mendes this weekend. But until then, Frampton is the king of Ireland.
