By the time that Conor McGregor rose to the top of the MMA world, a familiar comparison point had emerged to contextualize his ascent. To many of his most ardent supporters, McGregor was analogous to the legendary Muhammad Ali.
To be clear, these parallels were not about McGregor’s sociopolitical contributions to society, which were not nor did they aspire to be in league with what Ali accomplished. Rather, the comparison related to the way that the two men emerged onto the scene with audacious braggadocio and then managed to back up the most lofty of their claims with their fighting ability.