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Conor McGregor is the brightest flame to ever shine its light on the mixed martial arts scene. His is a rare wattage, a unique charisma that has both single-handedly driven the nation of Ireland MMA-crazy and helped launch the nascent sport into the American mainstream.

His UFC career is just two years and six fights long, and already the legendary moments are legion. Whether he was charming his comedic doppelganger Conan O’Brien or leaping from the cage to confront champion Jose Aldo, McGregor has shown a gift for both identifying and capitalizing on the moment.

Along with Ronda Rousey, he’s helped redefine what it means to be a star in the modern UFC.

But lost in the chaos that surrounds McGregor—everything from the claim that he could whoop Jesus to his Single White Female style-jacking of a random male model—is something central to his brand.

McGregor is not just a roaring mouth, not merely the product of a cynical marketing campaign designed to manufacture an attraction. He’s also one of the most exciting martial artists to emerge in years. And he has a very real chance of upsetting the only featherweight champion the UFC has ever known.

On first glance, McGregor‘s ring style is as flashy as one of his custom Ted Baker suits. But his vast array of spinning kicks, flying knees and constant chatter belies the relative simplicity of his attack.

There is no stealth to his approach. Everything the Irishman does is purposeful, with one end in mind—landing the most powerful left hand the featherweight division has ever seen.

As Jack Slack wrote on Fightland, the left hand is not just McGregor‘s bread and butter. It’s his steak, potato and desert aperitif as well.

“From day one, it has been McGregor‘s money punch. In fact, in most of his matches, it’s the only meaningful punch,” he wrote. “He rarely jabs, he only really hooks when he’s got his man hurt and unresponsive, it’s that pinpoint left straight which does the job.”

McGregor, of course, is not merely a left-handed puncher.

He is passion, power and action, the pride of a nation powering him to greatness. He’s a student as well, taking in the known universe of martial techniques and pulling out only those that lend themselves to his aims.

He does many things right technically. He moves well, utilizing a wide stance more commonly seen in the traditional martial arts, constantly putting himself into position do unleash his heavy hands. If an opponent is mad enough to put himself in punching range, McGregor does a good job of countering and mixes in spinning body kicks to punish anyone who leans too far right in order to avoid his powerful left hand.

Technique, however, is not the driver behind McGregor‘s success. Instead, it’s an unconquerable will that pushed him beyond where others are willing to go. He pursues the finish at all costs, willing to pay any price to deliver his own punishment.

Bleacher Report’s Patrick Wyman explained that he sets a pace few in the sport can match:

He simply never lets up, and when the opponent inevitably backs up to the fence, McGregor really goes to work. His flurries are vicious and he picks his shots beautifully, going around, under and through his opponent’s guard. If they try to circle away, toward McGregor’s right hand, he excels at pivoting and throwing a clean left hand as they overcommit and escape.

In combat sports, the battle is usually won by whoever gets there first. It’s easy to be brave from a distance, but few are willing to face the best another man has to offer up close and personal. The line between wisdom and cowardice is thin—but it’s one McGregor never comes close to approaching.

McGregor doesn’t skulk away from his foes’ strengths. He meets them with his head held high and a sneer planted on his face.

His is a young man’s game. There is no long-term future for a fighter willing to take his opponent’s best punches to deliver his own thudding blows. As Bloody Elbow’s Connor Ruebusch explained, fighters with that style amount to a flame that burns with a rare intensity but doesn’t shine for long:

When a man’s usual strategy comes down to “I can take his shots and he can’t take mine,” his eventual destination seems pretty clear. The downfall comes eventually. But right now, while McGregor is in the prime of his youth and the peak of his powers, that unshakable belief makes him a veritable force of nature, and a terrifying opponent for any sane fighter.

For now, McGregor can absorb the right hands Chad Mendes has used to send many men to Morpheus’ domain. He can even do it with a grin, confident that—with time—his own punches will enact a larger toll.

McGregor may be able to do the same with Aldo. After all, few fighters leave the sport on their own terms. Even the greatest warriors eventually meet someone who can best them. It takes just a moment to destroy the legacy another man took a lifetime to build.

On Saturday at UFC 194, McGregor will look to close the book on Aldo’s long reign.

 

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.

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