5 things you didn’t know about Conor McGregor

Will the ‘Notorious’ one be able to back up his words against the pound-for-pound great Joe Aldo?Conor McGregor is the most popular MMA fighter in the world today. Everything he does goes viral online instantly. He has an army of fans that love him and a legion of detractors who cannot wait to see him fall.Every step is analysed, every word is heard and every move is watched.With Ronda Rousey falling at the hands of Holly Holm, Jon Jones still to return to competition, Anderson Silva in limbo and Georges St. Pierre retired, Conor has become the face of MMA.Every aspect of Conor's life is public knowledge. People cannot get enough of him. However, despite the media machine picking him apart, we have put together a list of 5 things you may not know about Conor McGregor.

#1 Rags to riches

McGregor has become a millionaire in just over 2 years

It’s easy to forget, looking at the cars, watches and suits today that Conor McGregor sports – that he grew up in modest surroundings. His parents weren’t the richest of people and entering a sport that doesn’t pay well unless you get to the top of the UFC wasn’t looked favourably upon.

Early on in life Conor would work as a plumber during the day to help pay the bills. His friend would pick him up early in the morning and they would drive to building sites all around Dublin.

Even after becoming a 2 division champion at Cage Warriors, Conor was living in relative poverty. He was collecting social welfare cheques and spent the last bit of his money buying a dicky bow tie to wear at the post fight press conference after his UFC debut.

He won a knockout of the night bonus earning $60,000 that night and hasn’t looked back since.

#2 Quitting MMA

Conor almost quit MMA before signing with the UFC

After winning the Cage warriors lightweight title to become a 2 division champion, Conor quit the sport. A teammate and friend of his, who had worked his way up the ranks alongside the Irishman suffered an injury in a fight that ended his career.

Unable to deal with the loss of a trusted training partner and pained by watching one of his closest friends struggle, Conor walked away from MMA. He didn’t want the same thing to happen to him and didn’t want to put his family through such hardships.

He stopped going into the gym, answering calls from his coaches and also avoided showing up for boxing class which he was in charge of.

A month or so went by when his coach called again. Conor, like he had been doing all along, ignored it. Then the call came in again, and again and again. Finally, Conor decided to answer.

His coach, John didn’t try to force him back into the gym, he didn’t try to convince him to come back to MMA, he didn’t plead, he didn’t beg. He didn’t have to. The UFC had called. They wanted to sign Conor.

Just like that, the retirement went out the window and Conor signed a UFC contract. The rest, as they say, is history.

#3 The missed title defence

Conor pulled out of a title defence due to injury, just like Aldo did in July

These days Conor likes to rub the fact that Aldo pulled out of their scheduled bout at UFC 189 in the Brazilian’s face.

Irish fans have rallied around their man constantly hounding Aldo with twitter insults and photoshopped pictures. However, lost in all the hype leading up to UFC 194 is the fact that Conor is no saint when it comes to showing up to defend titles.

Back when he was the Cage Warriors featherweight champion, Conor and his teammate Artem Lobov went to the gym alone one night for a sparring session. They used no headgear, no shin guards and very light gloves and they went at it.

During the course of their sparring, Lobov hit Conor with a big shot, injuring the Irishman and eventually forcing him to pull out of his featherweight title defence.

Conor would never end up defending the featherweight championship, instead moving up and winning the lightweight championship in his final fight before signing for the UFC.

#4 Almost walking away from The Ultimate Fighter

Conor was so worn out after beating Mendes, he nearly walked away from TUF

Before heading into his world title fight at UFC 189, Conor was approached by the UFC to become a coach on the Ultimate Fighter. At the time, he was still expecting to face Jose Aldo.

Had he won that fight, he would coach against Chad Mendes culminating in a title defence at the end of the year. Had he lost, he would coach against Urijah Faber and the two of them would square off at the show’s conclusion.

Then Jose Aldo got injured and pulled out of the fight. Conor went on to beat Mendes for the interim title in July. Despite the change in circumstances, the UFC still wanted Conor to coach on their reality show opposite Urijah Faber though the two would not fight at the end.

Two days before filming began, Conor was ready to walk away from it. He had just won the interim title, was still suffering niggling injuries, done with two world press tours and wasn’t even going to get to fight the guy he was coaching against.

However, the UFC brass convinced him to stay on. On the show, he made it clear to his team that he was not there to babysit them and the only one he truly cared about was his teammate Artem, who was controversially brought back on the show after losing a qualification fight.

Conor stayed on and his team has dominated the competition thus far.

#5 Predictions

Conor has a habit of predicting the outcome of his fights. Thus far in his UFC career, he has never been wrong.

He picks the round and the method by which he will win. All this isn’t exactly new to anyone who has been following his career. However, what is astonishing about his predictions is just how long he has been making them.

Here is a video from 2008 when Conor was only 20 years old. He predicts almost everything that has transpired since in his career including becoming a UFC world champion and having more money than he knew what to do with.