Conor McGregor was delighted to learn from a 'Media Maps' graph that he has been deemed the most famous Irish person in the nation's history.
The legendary former UFC champion had his first fight in MMA's top promotion less than a decade ago, but within less than four years had made history as the first ever simultaneous two-weight world champion in the sport. In the process, he became a multi-millionaire, and launched a career the likes of which hadn't been seen before in MMA.
And according to a map posted on social media which shows the most famous individual from each country throughout history, McGregor is the best known person from his home country of Ireland. That would place him ahead of the likes of U2 frontman Bono, poets such as WB Yeats and James Joyce, playwright Oscar Wilde.
Somehow, the fighter managed to find the map, which is seemingly based on little-to-no data, from a May tweet reply that made no mention of his account at all. However, he noticed that he was listed as Ireland's representative, responding in a quote tweet "Nice! Real nice!"
When one user complained in Spanish that he was ahead of the likes of Joyce and other famed Irish intellectuals and artists, McGregor clapped back with a response of his own in English. He left a cheeky comment on her tweet, writing "I don’t make the rules baby I break them."
The fighter had an astronomical rise to the top of his sport, but appears to be in the midst of a fall from grace after struggling to remain consistent following his second world title win. He opted not to immediately defend the belt after four fights within 11 months, instead taking on Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match that added to his legend even in a stoppage defeat.
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However, after making a reported $100million for that bout, McGregor was out of action for over a year before facing the new champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who submitted him in the fourth round. He then spent more than a further year away with an injury before knocking out Donald Cerrone within seconds and being forced out again for a year by covid restrictions.
He ended up returning in January of 2021 against Dustin Poirier, losing their rematch before immediately taking him on in a July trilogy. However, that bout ended in disaster when he broke his leg throwing a kick during the first round, calling a stop to the bout and costing him yet another two years of activity.
McGregor has spent the last year-and-a-half bulking up ahead of a permanent move to welterweight, as well as recovering slower than expected from the injury. He has also made headlines for his outrageous behaviour on social media including a series of scandalous tweets, most of which he quickly takes down.
