The award comes after ‘The Notorious’ captured the lightweight title at UFC 205 to become the promotion’s first ever simultaneous two-division champion. McGregor was stripped of the featherweight belt just two weeks later, but that doesn’t take away from his momentous achievement on Nov. 12.
The Irishman beat the likes of Annalise Murphy and Paul O’Donovan, two Irish silver medalists who were also nominated for the award.
With another feather to his cap, McGregor announced that he is very serious about conquering the boxing scene.
"I can go now and conquer the boxing scene,” he told Clare McNamara of RTÉ Sport (h/t Joe.ie’s Carl Kinsella). That's a very serious thought and a very serious conversation that is happening.”
McGregor has traded verbal barbs with pound-for-pound boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr., and talks of a mega fight between the two fighters gained some steam after McGregor’s acquisition of a California-state boxing license last month.
"I certainly don't need him (Mayweather). I could go and fight some local schmuck,” McGregor said. "Of course the Floyd fight is the fight the public want to see. It's the fight we all want to happen."
The 28-year-old Dublin-based talent is currently listed as the No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world and is 9-1 in the UFC. McGregor is one of the best technical boxers in the sport of MMA, but it remains to be seen whether those skills would cross over in the boxing ring.
