THE WARRIOR'S CODE - Notorious

Notorious THERE are few things a man from this country enjoys more than a drink and a scrap, and I’m no different. As one of many sports nerds across the UK and Ireland, I’m more than happy to give the dastardly Rupert Murdock £100 each month of my hard earned wages to enjoy every sport under the sun at the flick of the switch (and a few other ‘specialist’ channels that we’ll not go into right now.) BT Sports subscriber that I am, I was able to sit up until stupid o’clock on Saturday night to jump on board the Conor McGregor bandwagon. The Irish man was fighting American Chad Mendes for the UFC’s ‘Interim’ Featherweight belt in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. McGregor tends to divide opinion. But for every man that can’t be having his ‘rent a gob’ arrogance, there are ten fight fans that worship the charismatic Dubliner. I’d have to say I had a foot in both camps, intrigued by both McGregor and MMA, but still very much an old school boxing fan. And I prefer my heroes to be a little more modest. On a weekend that was jam-packed with so much sport – the Ashes, the Tour de France, Derry defeating Wexford in the GAA, Steven Gerard making his LA Galaxy debut, Wimbledon final’s weekend, it was the fighting Irish man who caused social media to go into meltdown. In what seemed to be the longest build up to a fight in history, I was expecting a bit of an anti-climax. I was wrong. It may have been 5am, I may have been on the wine for several hours as the early Sunday morning rays rudely peaked past my living room curtains, but I have to say it was a dramatic, top class sporting event. Rory McDonald and Robbie Lawlor contested a brutal undercard match up they called ‘the fight of the ever’ – and they weren’t exaggerating. I hadn't seen so much bloodshed since the last time I was in the Gorteen car park back in the day. Anyways, back to the main event. McGregor, nicknamed ‘Notorious’ comes from a long line of trash talkers that goes back to the great Muhammed Ali, but as he amply demonstrated in the Octagon in the MGM Grand over the weekend end, he can talk the talk AND walk the walk. Out-wrestled for the opening two rounds, any time the two pugilists were vertical, McGregor’s reach advantage and blistering punch power were too much for the smaller man – Chad Mendes. A thundering straight left from McGregor ended the contest with seconds of the second round remaining. Amid the deafening noise of a partisan crowd the Dubliner downed Mendes for the first time in his illustrious career. The Californian never got up and the Irish masses who had invaded Las Vegas on a record-breaking night went absolutely wild. The Credit Unions across the country would no doubt have been sucked dry before thousands of fight fans left these shores. The heroic victory sends McGregor on a direct collision course with world champion Jose Aldo for a unification clash. It also sends McGregor's star to even more soaring heights. The powerful display gave Aldo, who pulled out of this fight sighting a rib injury, another chance to see what his next opponent has to offer and he has plenty. Conor McGregor seems unstoppable. Not only undefeated in the ring, he has given the sport of MMA the type of exposure it has craved for years. His next fight with Aldo will be the biggest fight in UFC history. It will certainly be on in the Doherty house. Mustn’t forget the wine either…