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After his second loss to Dustin Poirier - a fight that saw him suffer a severe leg injury – the UFC future of Conor McGregor is up in the air. If nothing else, it’s clear that ‘The Notorious’ star is no longer in his prime.
In his prime, Conor McGregor was a genuinely fantastic talent who beat some of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, but was he as good as he would like to make out?
The truth is that while Conor McGregor was definitely great, the UFC now has a number of tremendous lightweight fighters who could probably beat any iteration of ‘The Notorious’ Irishman, even at his absolute best.
With that in mind, here are five current UFC lightweights who could’ve beaten Conor McGregor in his prime.
#5. Islam Makhachev vs. prime Conor McGregor
When Conor McGregor suffered his famous loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, it was probably arguable that he was rusty after spending nearly two years away from the UFC chasing a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
However, the Irishman was still in phenomenal shape for the fight and looked as confident as he’d ever done. Unfortunately for him, he simply couldn’t deal with the powerful wrestling and top control of Nurmagomedov, and suffered a fourth round submission loss.
The honest truth is that even in his prime, Conor McGregor was probably susceptible to the type of gameplan Khabib used – a lot of heavy pressure, strong takedowns and a powerful top game complete with brutal ground-and-pound.
And right now, there’s no better fighter in the UFC at using that kind of gameplan than Khabib’s training partner Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev brings an almost identical game to the octagon as his famous training partner did, with an equally brilliant wrestling game and excellent top control. He’s probably not as vicious with strikes from the top as Khabib, but he definitely excels when it comes to controlling an opponent. His submission game is just as deadly.
In his prime, Conor McGregor’s movement, slick striking skills and unorthodox style might have given Makhachev some issues, but it seems more likely that the Dagestani would be capable of taking any iteration of the former two-division UFC champion down and replicating Khabib’s success against him.
#4. Charles OIiveira vs. prime Conor McGregor
Current UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is a genuinely brilliant fighter, particularly when it comes to his submission skills. The owner of perhaps the most venomous submission game in UFC history, ‘Do Bronx’ has a total of 14 submission wins to his name in the octagon.
But could the Brazilian have beaten a prime Conor McGregor? It’s a debatable question, but the answer is most likely yes.
When McGregor debuted with the UFC in 2013, he held an MMA record of 12-2 – but notably, both of his losses had come via submission. That suggests that the ground game was never the Irishman’s strong point.
Essentially, there can be no doubt that any version of Charles Oliveira could beat any version of Conor McGregor on the ground, but could ‘Do Bronx’ have put a prime ‘Notorious’ on his back?
If you look at the current version of Oliveira, the answer is almost certainly yes. While he doesn’t come from a strong amateur wrestling background, ‘Do Bronx’ has developed a highly effective wrestling game based around impressive strength. For instance, he slammed Tony Ferguson to the ground, and ‘El Cucuy’ is an excellent wrestler in his own right.
Oliveira may have had trouble closing the distance on a prime McGregor, who was a master of cutting angles inside the octagon to catch an onrushing opponent with a nasty strike.
But it was against shorter opponents like Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. Oliveira on the other hand has a 74” reach, identical to that of McGregor. Without that length and reach advantage, prime McGregor would’ve found it hard to keep Oliveira off him, and likely would’ve been dragged to the ground and submitted.
#3. Dustin Poirier vs. prime Conor McGregor
Okay, so on the face of it, it seems tricky to make the argument that Dustin Poirier could’ve beaten Conor McGregor in his prime. After all, McGregor knocked him out in their first meeting in 2014 in a matter of minutes.
And while Poirier obviously now has two wins over ‘The Notorious’ megastar, both by TKO, it’s fair to say that the McGregor we saw in those two fights wasn’t close to the same Conor McGregor who knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight crown in 2016.
However, the current iteration of Poirier against that version of Conor McGregor would be a tight fight to call, and there’d definitely be a case for suggesting that ‘The Diamond’ would win.
Ever since he moved to 155 pounds in 2015 following that loss to McGregor, Poirier has been developing his overall game. And since 2018, we’ve seen huge leaps and bounds in his striking game in particular.
‘The Diamond’ now possesses one of the most dangerous pressure-boxing games in the UFC. Poirier loves nothing more than to walk his opponents down, forcing them back, and when he’s got them on the retreat, he unleashes brutal combinations until they wilt.
Against a prime Conor McGregor, would this gameplan have worked? There’s no reason why it shouldn’t. McGregor's best version was excellent when it came to evading his opponents using smart footwork before landing counters, but Poirier’s use of angles is also excellent.
And more to the point, since moving to lightweight, ‘The Diamond’ appears to be far more durable than he ever was at 145 pounds, giving him a good chance of being able to eat McGregor’s best shots without going down.
Add in Poirier’s brutal punching power, and while a fight with prime Conor McGregor likely would’ve been closer than their clashes at UFC 257 and UFC 264, ‘The Diamond’ would’ve been more than capable of winning.
#2. Tony Ferguson vs. prime Conor McGregor
This one comes with a bit of a caveat, as it’s arguable that right now, the version of Tony Ferguson competing in the UFC is even further past his prime than the version of Conor McGregor that lost twice to Dustin Poirier.
The last two times we’ve seen ‘El Cucuy’ in the octagon, he’s been beaten in a one-sided fashion by Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje respectively.
However, a fight between Ferguson and McGregor with both men in their primes was an absolute dream match just a few years ago. In fact, it could well have served as McGregor’s first UFC lightweight title defense had he not decided to chase a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather instead.
So who would’ve won this fight? It would undoubtedly have been a tough one to call, as it would’ve pitted Conor McGregor’s knockout power, sharp counterpunching, excellent footwork and movement against Ferguson’s unorthodox, wild striking and array of takedowns and submissions.
But on the face of it at least, you’d have to have favored Ferguson. ‘El Cucuy’ was arguably the most durable fighter in the UFC at that point, as he demonstrated when he survived onslaughts from the likes of Lando Vannata and Anthony Pettis.
And Ferguson could push the pace like few other fighters, as we saw when he forced opponents like Rafael dos Anjos and Kevin Lee to wilt in the later rounds.
There’s no doubt that Ferguson probably would’ve eaten at least one or two heavy shots in a fight with McGregor. After all, ‘El Cucuy’ was always open to being hit and prime McGregor was a pinpoint, accurate striker.
However, if he could’ve absorbed those shots, even the best Conor McGregor would not have been able to survive such a hellacious pace, especially considering we saw him gas in his two fights with Nate Diaz. That would’ve left him wide open for Ferguson to take control and win, perhaps with his patented D’arce choke.
#1. Justin Gaethje vs. prime Conor McGregor
One old adage that fans of Conor McGregor used to suggest was that shorter wrestle-boxers had little chance of defeating the irishman despite their skill in takedowns. The suggestion was that they wouldn’t be able to find a way around McGregor’s clever footwork and movement, and in doing so, they’d leave themselves open to a heavy counterpunch from a fighter with a longer reach.
We saw this in action when prime Conor McGregor took out both Chad Mendes and Eddie Alvarez, which is why fighters like Michael Chandler and Gregor Gillespie don’t appear on this list. Justin Gaethje, however, is not a normal wrestle-boxer.
Sure, he has takedowns in his arsenal, not that he uses them much, and fights in a somewhat similar way to those lightweights. But the difference is that none of those other wrestle-boxers strike quite like ‘The Highlight’.
Gaethje has arguably the heaviest hands in the lightweight division, and his punching accuracy is excellent too. When he fought Tony Ferguson, for instance, he caught ‘El Cucuy’ over and over with a brutal right hand. Wild swings simply didn’t come into his head.
And ‘The Highlight’ also throws truly vicious leg kicks, and is more than capable of chopping a foe down in brutal fashion using them. Add in his legendary durability, and he’s a fighter who is very difficult to stop.
What could prime Conor McGregor have done against Gaethje? He likely would’ve looked to use his movement to catch the former PFL champion coming forward with a heavy counterpunch.
However, his overall susceptibility to leg kicks would’ve meant that Gaethje could’ve used them to chop the Irishman down, preventing that movement altogether.
Essentially, Justin Gaethje would’ve been a nightmare opponent for Conor McGregor in his prime, and could’ve ended his UFC lightweight title reign had the two ever fought.
