Conor McGregor at 145 pounds was pretty damn good.
Good enough to go unbeaten in his first seven UFC bouts. Good enough to get up off the mat and finish Chad Mendes, the best wrestler he’s faced, in the second round at UFC 189. Good enough to knock out Jose Aldo, who hadn’t lost in a decade, in 13 seconds to unify the featherweight crown at UFC 194.
Physically, however, the process of getting down to that contracted weight each fight seemed to be taking its toll. As he stepped on the scale in Las Vegas ahead of his showdown with Aldo last December, McGregor was so drained and drawn out that he resembled an entirely different person.