If Conor McGregor fought a fraction as often as he tweeted about potential fights, and then went out and won those fights, he’d be atop the pound-for-pound rankings list.
And make no mistake, when when MMA’s prodigal son does make his return to the octagon, it will still be a very big deal.
But in the meantime, the rankings move on. You wouldn’t put USC football No. 1 in the polls this year based on what they did in the Reggie Bush Era. Likewise, McGregor’s accomplishments in winning the UFC featherweight and lightweight championships in 2015 and 2016 are increasingly irrelevant when putting together rankings lists as we head into the 2019 holiday season.
McGregor has not won a fight since he beat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt in November 2016. His only MMA fight since was a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who is No. 9 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie pound-for-pound rankings, had not even made his UFC debut the last time McGregor won a fight.
McGregor is no longer on the pound-for-pound list. He’s no longer in the featherweight rankings. Lightweight? Well, he’s still listed there, but he’s no longer on the short list of title contenders.
We’ve got “The Notorious” in at No. 12 at 155 pounds this week. Maybe he’ll announce a fight soon and have the opportunity to prove he should still be listed with the likes of Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson, and Justin Gaethje. But for now, he’s right on the edge of becoming yesterday’s news.
To find out where last week’s winners and losers — like UFC on ESPN+ 22 main eventers Jan Blachowicz and Ronaldo Souza — shake out in the week’s rankings, click on the drop-down menu above.
