With the NBA, NHL, NASCAR and other major sports leagues and sporting events suspended or canceled, what better time to take a look back at some iconic sports moments? Each day, we’ll deliver One Thing to Watch.
Quick question: have you ever seen Conor McGregor without that famous chest tattoo?
If you haven’t, today is the day that you do.
On this day, Conor McGregor didn’t become a legend – he just set the stage to becoming a legend. Because on April 6, 2013, McGregor made his UFC debut.
In his first UFC fight, McGregor traveled to Stockholm, Sweden to take on another up and coming mid-20s fighter, Marcus Brimage, who was 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the UFC. McGregor was 13-2 and hadn’t lost since 2010.
Relive Conor’s electric debut:
Isn’t it crazy to listen to that introduction of Conor, considering who and where he is now?
McGregor starched Brimage.
In his next fight, he defeated future-featherweight king Max Holloway by decision in August 2013, before securing a first round TKO win over Diego Brandao in Dublin, Ireland in July 2014.
Next, Conor earned another first round TKO victory, this time over future interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in September 2014. Then, in January 2015, he TKO’d Dennis Siver in two rounds, setting the stage for a featherweight title showdown with featherweight GOAT Jose Aldo.
McGregor would fight once more before meeting with Aldo, when he took on Chad Mendes in July 2015.
Conor TKO’d Mendes in the second round to win the interim featherweight title.
Finally, McGregor would meet with Aldo in December 2015.
We all know what happened that night.
After his KO of Aldo, McGregor would go on to fight Nate Diaz, Eddie Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather (in a b0xing match), Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone.
But his legend was already solidified.
And it all started on that April 6 night in Stockholm.
