The ‘Notorious’ Effect: How Conor McGregor Has Changed The UFC For The Better

It’s hardly a secret that interim UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor has absolutely taken mixed martial arts (MMA) by storm since making his octagon debut against Marcus Brimage at UFC on Fuel TV 9 back in April 2013.

The talented Irish wordsmith has made an impact upon the sport like few, if any, ever have before, and he’s done by blending his own shall we say, unique, blend of self promotion with his world class fighting skills. McGregor remains undefeated in the UFC octagon as he heads into the biggest fight of his life and one of the biggest in UFC history when he faces off with longtime featherweight champ Jose Aldo in the main event of December 12’s UFC 194 pay-per-view (PPV) from Las Vegas, Nevada.

He may win the title and go on to become arguably the UFC’s biggest star, he could lose to a generational talent in his arch nemesis Aldo, but overall it’s undeniable that the ‘Notorious’ has stormed into the UFC and singlehandedly changed the game. Love him or hate him, that’s an accomplishment few fighters can stake a legitimate claim to, and that’s why McGregor truly is an elite fighter for all of the various attention-grabbing exploits he brings to the table.

The ‘Notorious’ effect is here in full force, and it appears to be both a lasting and evolving one. Let’s take a look at how McGregor has positively impacted the UFC in the short time since his debut.

4.) Fighting is absolutely exploding in Ireland (and Europe) because of him:

McGregor’s impact is quite possibly most prominent in the fact that his homeland of Ireland is now the fast-growing hotbed of MMA in the world.

You don’t have to look all that far back to find a glaring testament to that fact, as October 24’s UFC Fight Night 76 from Dublin, which didn’t even feature McGregor and literally had one of the worst lineups on paper due to multiple injuries, sold out in a record-breaking one minute thanks to the fight-crazed Irish faithful. Add that to the country nearly shutting down when he beat Diego Brandao at July 19’s UFC Fight Night 46 from Dublin, and you can see why the ‘Notorious’ has made Ireland one of the world’s premier fight destinations in just over two short years, an impressive feat for one man.

3.) Featherweight is suddenly one of the most exciting divisions:

Perhaps the most significant effect McGregor has had on the UFC in terms of an actual rankings and relevancy standpoint is that he’s made the once-stagnating featherweight division not only relevant, but also exploding with possibility and excitement.

The 145-pound stable has always had great fighters in it; yet in the past it suffered badly from a simple lack of promotion and excitement. Aldo is no doubt a great champion and one of the sport’s best competitors, but while his choices are his own, a top-ranked pound-for-pound champion not speaking English has simply hurt his exposure and ability to sell pay-per-views buys in a big way. Top contenders Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes are also great and worthy fighters, but no one expects them to sell their fights with witty banter and trash talk.

Enter McGregor. He’s mixed it up with all three of the aforementioned names and many more, making a bout with them and every top-ranked contender a story in and of itself. That’s hard to find, and whether you like his brad of trash talk or not, it’s impossible to deny that McGregor has made featherweight fun again. It might just be the most fun division in all of MMA right now.

2.) Fighters from other divisions even want to fight him:

Expanding upon the previous reason why McGregor has positively impacted the UFC, it’s become clear that the ‘Notorious’’ scope expands far beyond his 145-pound conquests. He talks trash so much and so effectively that fighters a division above and below him are calling him out in an effort to fight the Irish loudmouth.

They know he’s the big money fight in the UFC right now, and it’s forced them to get out of their comfort zones a bit in order to put out some self promotion, an integral part of the fight game that we’ve largely seen go absent from MMA as winning combatants routinely said they just want ‘whoever the UFC gives me’ next after a big victory.

But now, we see that fighters know where the big payday is, and even names like lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw, among many other top-ranked names from both of those weight classes, are lining up for a shot at McGregor. It’s feasible that perhaps only the lightweight suitors from that list will actually get a shot at former CWFC 155-pound champ McGregor in the future, but the bottom line is that he’s rustled up three divisions as a result of his mouth and fists, and that can only be a good thing for the UFC, fight fans, and MMA as a whole.

1.) He created a huge financial turnaround for the UFC:

To top it off, McGregor played a vital part in the UFC’s resurgence of 2015 following a downtrodden 2014 where profits fell a reported 40 percent. Sure, he also had the help of Ronda Rousey’s extreme explosion of popularity before she shockingly lost to Holly Holm at UFC 193, but McGregor’s mid-summer spectacle versus Chad Mendes at July 12’s UFC 189 was arguably the most hyped and watched single bout of the year.

And for good reason. McGregor hyped his bout with Aldo to no end, and when the oft-injured Brazilian champion puled out with a rib injury, he kept the momentum rolling by a man who he not surprisingly already had a pre-installed beef with. Questions about his ability to beat elite wrestlers were and always will be there, but ultimately McGregor persevered to finish ‘Money’ and rise up to new levels of exposure.

Those are levels that might only get bigger if he beats Aldo in two weeks, and if he does, expect the ‘Notorious’ to eventually make the nine-figure payday he routinely talks up in interviews. He often says he ‘is the game,’ and looking back at his recent track record, it’s hard to argue with the dapper Irish clown prince of MMA.

Will he emerge from UFC 194 a much bigger star than he already is? Only time will tell, but the ‘Notorious’ has already impacted the UFC in lasting ways that will be remembered forever in the young sport’s history.