Fighter of the Year, KO of the Year, King of Violence 2015: Conor McGregor

Fighter of the Year

It seems like almost a lifetime ago but it was less than a year ago when Conor McGregor TKO’d Dennis Siver in Boston to kick of his 2015 campaign inside of the octagon. After that, it was only uphill from there. If McGregor’s ‘Money’ victory over an elite wrestler in Chad Mendes on short notice didn’t make fans believe, his KO of the top P4P fighter in the world, Jose Aldo, certainly shut them up. The amount of press McGregor and Aldo did leading up to their eventual title unification at UFC 194 was more than any fight in UFC history – and the fight only lasted 13 seconds. Understandably so, this left a lot of fans wanting more. Don’t worry – you’ll get plenty more of McGregor in 2016 and beyond.

KO of the Year

This was a tough one. Do you go with Holly Holm’s beautiful headkick KO of Ronda Rousey or McGregor’s left-handed dandy that ended a decade of dominance. It’s close, but you have to go with McGregor. He ended a 19-fight winning streak by defeating the only UFC featherweight champion in history and set the record for the fastest finish in UFC title fight history in the process.

King of Violence

In a year where we strongly considered Luke Rockhold, Tony Ferguson and a couple of others, McGregor also earns the honor of being called King of Violence in 2015. It wasn’t just the trifecta of T(KO) finishes during the calendar year that earned the new King of MMA this trifecta of awards (check out our full 2015 awards list here) from the folks at Fight Booth, it was the strength of his opposition and the way he carried himself inside and outside of the cage.

So, was McGregor’s 2015 a once in a lifetime magical ride for him and his die hard legion of fans, or can he repeat the magic he made back in 2012 for Cage Warriors by becoming a two division champion in 2016. Well, we won’t have to wait very long to find out.