Monday 14 December 2015 08:34, UK
Can lessons be learned from Conor McGregor's shocking 13-second stoppage of UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo?
The remarkable ease of McGregor's win - which was more spectacular than any of his boastful pre-fight claims - at UFC 194 in Las Vegas has thrown up more questions than ever about the Irish star.
Sky Sports have considered five talking points...
Wrapping the championship belt around his tattooed waist unquestionably means McGregor's journey from a talented prospect to the king of the mountain is the quickest of all time. It was just two years ago when, aged 25, he first stepped into the Octagon in Sweden in the fourth of 13 fights that night. Back then, there were whispers about what the future might hold largely told in Irish accents that were drowned out by far more overwhelming noises.
"We're not here to take part, we're here to take over," he immortally quipped at a stage of his career where it was brash, to say the least, if he genuinely planned such a rapid assault on the history books. In modern times, only the former WWE star Brock Lesnar travelled the path from being an up-and-comer to a UFC championship so quickly but his professional wrestling popularity makes him an utterly unique example.
McGregor threatened from his first day on the job that he would exterminate the featherweight division culminating with its long-time emperor Aldo. In seven fights, he has taken large strides up the rankings and knocked out top contender Chad Mendes last summer before gaining Aldo's scalp on Saturday night. Hate to say he told you so.
This was nothing like the typical Hollywood storyline, where a young buck eventually overthrows an ageing leader who has overstayed his welcome. Prior to that one crushing punch, Aldo was justifiably sat at the very top of the UFC's official pound-for-pound rankings with no indication that was about to change.
Aged 29, the Brazilian is an athlete dethroned in his prime. The trials and tribulations of fighting for a living often mean that a young body can have more miles on the clock than meets the eye, but this accusation can't be pointed at Aldo. He most recently fought a year ago, winning an exciting 25-minute duel with Mendes which required every skill in his repertoire.
He was undefeated in a decade, and his only loss came in his eighth fight against an opponent whose career subsequently petered out - in other words, that result looks suspiciously like a fluke. For the past six years, he has owned the 145-pound championship, the first fighter to do so, and it was his brilliance that convinced the UFC to welcome the featherweight division into a realm previously dominated by giants.
Aldo has rid himself of every threatening challenger that has emerged, twice beating Mendes and also claiming a decision against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Established veterans like Kenny Florian and Urijah Faber endured brutal meetings with him. Aldo has largely seemed peerless in his lengthy reign at the top, until now.
The ideology of striking clinically while not getting touched is the very essence of combat so, in achieving that, it would be completely inappropriate to label McGregor's achievement as underwhelming. Emerging unscathed while leaving an opponent unconscious in the shortest possible time is what icons like Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee preached.
It has become an obvious trait that McGregor's knockouts have all come via his dangerous left hand, which in the simplest terms is delivered more powerfully than anybody else can muster in the featherweight division. But there is far more to the puzzle than raw power, particularly when thrown by a long and sleek 145-pounder.
His skill-set has evolved from being a basic counter-puncher who had the intelligence to use his trash talk as a method of baiting an opponent to wade forwards before catching them when they least expected it. Against MMA fighters with less refined hands, it worked a treat. McGregor has developed this style to emerge as an effective pressure fighter who uses body kicks to halt his opponent's movement, and spinning kicks when they try to circle away from the perilous left fist. His various set-ups all lend themselves to a left-handed knockout. Against Aldo, he rolled the clock back to his earlier years by taking quick steps backwards as his foe initiated an exchange before countering with the fight-ending blow. It was a 13-second demonstration of nearly 13 years' work.
Unlike boxing where the individual athlete is king, MMA has always operated with the UFC being a bigger brand than any of its fighters. A 2016 London event sold out before a main event had been confirmed, such is the trust in those three letters to deliver a show. McGregor, however, has reached a status where he is playing by his own rules.
He has regularly mooted fighting in an Ireland stadium but the revenue that he brings into Las Vegas means that is unlikely to tread too far from the fight capital of the world. If it makes money, it makes sense. The UFC 194 gate receipts touched £6.67m which falls significantly short of the £47.5m that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio reached when they fought in the MGM, the same venue. Yet they are the figures that McGregor has one eye on. "I'm catching up [with Mayweather]. I'm only 27, they were 40. I'm only warming up," he claimed afterwards.
Unashamed by the vulgarity of discussing pay cheques, McGregor and his Straight Blast Gym team-mates have also redefined the efficiency of training for MMA. Age-old urban myths of gym fights are rife in what is still a young sport, and the all-time greats mainly came through brutal training regimes where tough sparring was seen as key. In Dublin, they prefer a gymnastic-based approach absent of full-contact work - "update the software without damaging the hardware" is a motto from the head coach John Kavanagh that has reaped rewards.
Not content with claiming his first UFC championship, McGregor immediately signalled his intention to become the first fighter to hold two titles simultaneously in two weight divisions. It is something he achieved with Cage Warriors, his previous promotion, but is a different kettle of fish at the top level. McGregor not only believes it to be possible, but has demanded to fight the winner of next weekend's 155-pound title clash between Rafael dos Anjos and Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone.
Stepping up in weight would beg countless more questions, but for a man that has predicted every step of his remarkable rise, it wouldn't be implausible. McGregor infamously cuts down from roughly 170 pounds to make the 145 limit so he wouldn't necessarily be the smaller man when fighting at 155. A second consecutive world title fight remains his priority.
Frankie Edgar might be the most sensible solution, not least because defeating him would truly mean McGregor has wiped out the featherweight division beyond repair. Edgar, a former champion at lightweight, is a veteran considered among the UFC's elite and knocked out perennial contender Mendes the night before McGregor beat Aldo. His grappling style represents the critics' answer of how to bring the Irishman back down to Earth.
Finally, a rematch against Aldo remains a possibility, although the temptation to fight fresh blood could be too much for McGregor. Such a highly anticipated fight ending so rapidly means a second encounter would be interesting but would take up a vastly different dynamic.
