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This weekend sees the return to action of the UFC’s biggest-ever star, as The Notorious Conor McGregor faces off with Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257. And McGregor’s prediction for the fight? A knockout inside 60 seconds.
Usually, it’d be easy to shrug off a UFC fighter's predictions, but with Conor McGregor, it’s a little different. He’s earned the nickname Mystic Mac for his ability to somehow correctly predict the outcome of his fights, often in eerie fashion.
With that in mind, here are five times that Conor McGregor accurately predicted the outcome of his fights.
#1 Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao
Conor McGregor’s first UFC main event saw him take on TUF 14 Featherweight winner Diego Brandao in McGregor’s home town of Dublin, way back in July 2014. Originally, McGregor was pegged to fight Cole Miller, but when Magrinho pulled out, Brandao stepped in.
Right away, the trash talk began. Conor McGregor claimed he’d saved Brandao from his UFC release and then stated the following:
“People are saying that he starts well and then fades, I don’t think he’s even going to start well. I’m going to be straight at him off the gate and I think he’s going to feel pressure like he never felt before. He’s going to be on his back foot and experience shots and movements that he’s never experienced before until ultimately he crumbles, and he will crumble.”
Essentially, Conor McGregor got this one bang on. The Notorious One pressured Brandao from the off, backed him up with some unorthodox strikes. And with just under a minute remaining in the first round, the pressure took its toll.
An uppercut and a straight left dropped Brandao, and seconds later, Conor McGregor finished him off. It was the first sign that Mystic Mac had the ability to predict his fights with incredible accuracy.
#2 Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier
While Dustin Poirier is promising that this weekend’s rematch will be different, he ought to be concerned with Conor McGregor’s recent prediction of a one-minute knockout. That’s because Mystic Mac predicted exactly what happened in their first fight almost perfectly.
The two were matched at UFC 178, and Conor McGregor’s trash talk started early on, as he labeled Poirier a “journeyman” and a “quiet little hillbilly.” It was his fight prediction that was really incredible, though.
McGregor stated:
“His chin is deteriorating... I’m going to crack him with a jab and he’s going to wobble, and I’m going to put him away early. It’s going to be a first-round KO. Mark my words.”
And sure enough, while it wasn’t a jab that put Poirier away, Conor McGregor wasn’t far off with his prediction overall. The Notorious One backed Poirier up and had him clearly concerned in the early going. And midway through the opening round, he lanced him with a left hand to the back of the ear.
The Diamond went down, and a couple of follow-up strikes saw Conor McGregor come away with his fourth UFC victory. This was the first time McGregor was given the Mystic Mac nickname, but it wouldn’t be the first time he correctly predicted one of his fights.
#3 Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo
Perhaps Conor McGregor’s most eerily accurate prediction came prior to his mega-fight with long-time UFC Featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in 2015.
None of the fans and observers making predictions on the fight could’ve imagined that Conor McGregor would win by knockout in just 13 seconds. After all, nobody had beaten Aldo in a decade. But the Irishman somehow saw it coming.
In a pre-fight interview, Conor McGregor stated that Aldo was simply too emotionally invested in the fight and would fall for his feints, opening him up for a counterpunch in the process.
The Notorious One claimed:
“I feel I will KO him inside one. If he makes that walk, if I see him inside the Octagon, every single movement I make, I will get an over-reaction out of him because he is emotionally invested in it...That's how I see the fight playing out. I see him over reacting, over extending, then KO'd unconscious."
And, of course, that’s exactly how the fight went down. Aldo looked nervous from the get-go and bit on Conor McGregor’s first feint, lunging forward with a right hand. McGregor countered with a crushing left hand, and the rest is history.
#4 Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez
Conor McGregor made UFC history when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become the first fighter to hold UFC titles simultaneously in different weight classes.
The then-UFC Featherweight champion had already stated his intention to claim UFC Lightweight gold, claiming that the division’s best fighters were too slow to match him.
He stated:
“I see stiffness when I see that 155-pound division. I feel like they are stuck in the mud almost.”
And when he was finally signed to fight Alvarez - the UFC’s Lightweight champion - The Notorious One didn’t mince his words and channeled Mystic Mac again.
He claimed:
“I have everything on him: reach, height, everything so I don’t see him getting out of the first round. If he does, great, I’ll take my hat off to his toughness; he’s a tough dude. He can get in a fight and he’s been doing it a long time but tough is not enough to go against me.”
Once again, Conor McGregor was on the money. He dominated Alvarez, dropping him three times in the opening round alone. But as The Notorious One had suspected, The Underground King turned out to be tough enough to survive the first round.
Alvarez was not tough enough to survive the second, though. Another big combination floored him for the final time, making Conor McGregor the new king of the UFC Lightweight division – and proving his prediction correct again.
#5 Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone
Donald Cerrone first felt the force of Conor McGregor’s sharp tongue in the same press conference that saw him hit out at the UFC’s entire Lightweight division. In fact, Cowboy was one of the fighters that McGregor labeled as stiff and slow.
So, when the UFC finally matched the two popular fighters at UFC 246 in January 2020, it was always going to trigger some more trash talk - and a Mystic Mac prediction from Conor McGregor.
In one of his more menacing predictions, The Notorious One didn’t hold back when asked how he thought his fight with Cowboy would go.
McGregor stated:
“He has my respect, and although there will be blood spilled on January 18th, it will not be bad blood. And as for the Mystic Mac prediction – it will be a KO."
Sure enough, the prediction came true, practically down to the very word. Conor McGregor broke Cerrone’s nose with shoulder strikes in the fight’s opening exchange – spilling the blood that he’d mentioned – and then used a head kick and follow-up strikes to finish him in under a minute.
The fight was a chilling reminder of what McGregor – who hadn’t fought in the UFC since 2016 – was capable of, and he’ll be hoping to get another prediction correct this weekend against Dustin Poirier.
