Sherdog’s Top 10: Rising Stars, 2014 First Edition

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2. Conor McGregor (16-2)

Love him or hate him, McGregor is here to stay. The UFC has struck gold with the motor-mouthed Irishman, and it has put the full weight of its homegrown and Fox Sports media operations behind turning McGregor into a genuine star. Whether he is snapping half-soused selfies with UFC President Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, touting the benefits of his elephant ivory, custom-tailored suits, or turning huge numbers of Brazilian MMA fans against him with a few simple lines of trash talk, McGregor has a talent for making himself the center of attention. All the UFC has done is give him a push in the right direction.

Leaving aside his undisputed facility for talking trash, the most intriguing thing has been McGregor’s ability to back up every bit of that chatter with his performances in the cage. He is a skilled pressure fighter with an uncanny talent for walking his opponents laterally into the punches and kicks he wants to throw, changing rhythms and adapting to his opponents’ defensive tendencies. His grappling and wrestling have so far been up to the task, and he works at a pace that even Max Holloway, one of the highest-output fighters in the UFC, could not match. Can he wrestle well enough to stop opponents like Frankie Edgar, Dennis Bermudez and Chad Mendes? We will not know until he faces them in the cage. Even if he cannot stuff the division’s best wrestlers, McGregor still projects as an even more verbose Michael Bisping with a massive, built-in fanbase in Ireland and perhaps certain parts of the United States. If he can wrestle, then watch out, because we might have a future champion on our hands.

Whether one loves or hates McGregor is essentially beside the point. What matters is the Irishman’s ability to inspire that kind of emotional response from anyone and everyone with whom he comes into contact. As normally mild-mannered UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo put it after his “Fight of the Year” candidate with Mendes, “I think the court is complete here. I’m the king, Chad is the prince and now we have a joker.” Not bad for a guy who was headlining regional cards less than two years ago.

Number 1 » He might be the most talented wrestle-grappler we have ever seen, with a deep background in sambo, judo and freestyle wrestling to go along with his adult training in wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the other component skills of MMA.