Conor McGregor raises the stakes every time he talks. Every time he bashes an opponent, calls them slow or basic or stuck in the mud, McGregor increases his own margin for error.
We've seen first-hand how fans react to UFC fighters who talk a lot and can't back it up. Exhibit A is Ronda Rousey after her loss to Holly Holm last month in Australia.
McGregor, though, talks as much crap as anyone in UFC history. And backs it all up without batting an eyelash.
"Conor McGregor is a very unique individual," UFC president Dana White said on the UFC 194 post-fight show on Fox Sports 1. "He eats pressure for breakfast. He eats pressure like nobody I've ever seen in my life. He rolled out there tonight smiling. The whole time, he was in the Octagon while Jose was walking out, he was yelling out to people outside the cage. He was in there doing this thing, warming up. He's like, 'Eh I'm in the gym and it's just another day.'"
Some might say the pressure of being a megastar got to Rousey. It didn't seem to faze McGregor one bit, albeit he is not quite the international celebrity Rousey has become.
McGregor knocked Jose Aldo out cold in the UFC 194 main event Saturday night in Las Vegas. That's the same Aldo who had not lost in 10 years, was regarded as one of the top two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and was the most fearsome featherweight fighter the sport had ever known. McGregor made quick work of him in 13 seconds.
"I thought this thing was gonna be like Hagler-Hearns," White said. "I thought the first round was gonna be a Hagler-Hearns, which was gonna be super violent. And I didn't think it was gonna go the distance."
It ended up being more like B.J. Penn vs. Caol Uno or Duane Ludwig vs. Jonathan Goulet. McGregor put one of the scariest fighters on the planet out flat after berating him verbally for more than a year. "The Notorious" even predicted he would finish McGregor within the first round. He didn't even need all of the first 20 seconds.
White said he spoke with Charlie Hunnam of "Sons of Anarchy" fame afterward. Hunnam said McGregor walked to the Octagon a star and left a superstar. White couldn't help but agree.
"When you can find somebody like that that can speak the way that he does and he's so quick-witted and super talented and can just handle the pressure -- that's all the ingredients of a superstar," McGregor said.