5 UFC comebacks that went horribly wrong

#5 Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor returned from a foray into boxing to be dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov

Conor McGregor’s rise up the ranks in the UFC was truly meteoric; just over two and a half years after ‘The Notorious One’ debuted in the promotion with a knockout win over journeyman Marcus Brimage, he took out longtime champion Jose Aldo to win the UFC Featherweight title. A year later, he’d won the Lightweight title too, knocking out Eddie Alvarez in the promotion’s first ever show in New York City.

Reigning as the UFC’s first ever simultaneous double champion, it felt like the Irishman had the MMA world at his feet – but rather than defend either title, ‘The Notorious One’ instead stepped away from the sport to chase a mega-money boxing match with undefeated superstar Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.

McGregor would lose the eventual Mayweather fight, but he made so much cash from the event that at one point, it felt like he would never return to MMA. But just over a year after his foray into the boxing world – and nearly two years after he’d last set foot in the Octagon – the Irish superstar was back, challenging Khabib Nurmagomedov for the Lightweight title he’d never lost in what would become the promotion’s biggest selling pay-per-view ever.

Unfortunately for McGregor, the comeback didn’t go to plan; he was thoroughly beaten by Nurmagomedov in a largely one-sided fight that ended with him submitting to a neck crank in the fourth round. To make matters worse, he also found himself in hot water with Nevada’s Athletic Commission after a controversial post-fight brawl with the Russian’s teammates.

What happened next?

Rumours of retirement swirled around ‘The Notorious One’ for practically a year after his loss to Nurmagomedov, but instead, McGregor returned to the UFC this month by beating Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in under a minute. The Irish star is now apparently in line to rematch Nurmagomedov – if he can get past Tony Ferguson – later in 2020.