Like it or not, Conor McGregor is up there with the elite athletes

Even here in his homeland a lot of us have little idea how respected he is.

Note the use of the word ‘respected’. When it comes to the polarising figure that’s Conor McGregor, even his critics will concede how big and popular he’s become and few of them begrudge how rich he’s become either. But ‘respected’? To view McGregor as an exceptional athlete and not just a showman and salesman is to leave you open to accusations of being gullible, buying whole the incessant hype surrounding him and his fledgling sport.

The only thing is, it’s not just impressionable twenty-somethings with short memories and attention spans acknowledging this guy as an elite sportsperson, or new media that needs to generate clickbait.