Poster boy of UFC Conor McGregor has had his fair share of highlight moments, many of these coming at his heated press conferences.Perhaps none more so than his pre-fight press conference with Jose Aldo. Irish talisman McGregor was more than fired up before the biggest fight of his career, for the UFC lightweight championship of the world, handing insults out like they were nothing. Despite this, the exact moment came when McGregor marched over to Aldo’s side of the table and took his belt, leaving the Brazilian looking helpless. The crowd then erupted, and this is clearly where the fight was out of Aldo’s hands; Notorious was in his head. McGregor screamed down his microphone: “You’re looking at the king, you’re looking at the king!” The Irishman then followed up by putting his hands in the air, almost sensing straight away he knew the fight was as good as won. 
Aldo did nothing other than talk to McGregor, he was beaten. All this verbal and mental torture proved too much for Aldo, who was out cold on the canvas within 12 seconds of the very first round. As soon as McGregor held that belt in the air, the UFC was never the same again, it was more than just a sport. Many criticised UFC president Dana White, as all he did was stand there and smile at the Notorious’ antics, however, this presser alone would change the face of UFC forever. From here on in, the hype for the fight was through the roof and the hype around McGregor would never really leave, with this being the first of many massive fights the Irishman would partake in.
Just this press conference alone did so much for UFC in terms of numbers and viewership in general.
Even haters of McGregor admit that he has changed the face of the sport, and without him, UFC wouldn’t be half as big as it is at this moment in time.
People like current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov also wouldn’t be as big.
Without his super-fight against McGregor, he wouldn’t have nearly as much hype surrounding him as he does now.
Before McGregor came into UFC, it was a semi-dying franchise. The numbers were just about satisfactory, however, when the Notorious came into UFC, he blew all the other fighters out of the water in terms of numbers and hype.
Even though McGregor has gone into retirement, there are constant rumours about how he could come back and face numerous different fighters, further proving the impact he has had on not just UFC, but MMA on the whole.
Perhaps the craziest, but most realistic, rumour is that McGregor will come back to fight his biggest rival Khabib.
Khabib is one of only two fighters who have beaten McGregor in UFC, and the hatred between the pair is unparalleled.
What would make this fight even crazier is the fact that it will most probably be for the lightweight championship, and it will also be for Khabib to go 30-0, if he can get past Justin Gaethje that is.
They say that everyone loses at one point in UFC, but that is simply untrue when it comes to Khabib.
Despite the rumours and numerous retirements, one thing is for sure, Conor McGregor has changed UFC forever.