From the streets of Dublin to UFC superstardom: Conor McGregor's meteoric rise to fame

UFC President Dana White has announced that UFC legend Conor McGregor will return to the octogen, facing Michael Chandler at the end of filming for the new series of 'The Ultimate Fighter,' according to givemesport.com.

McGregor's eccentric personality and explosiveness in the octogen grabbed combat sports fans all over the world, making the UFC the number one destination for MMA fighters.

Let's look through McGregor's spectacular UFC journey.

Conor McGregor was born on July 14, 1988, in Dublin, Ireland. The Irishman grew up in a working-class environment and enjoyed playing football. Later he found a love for fighting.

He won the Dublin Novice Championship as a boxer in his early youth. Later in his teens, McGregor started MMA under John Cavanagh. He found a job as a plumber but against his parent's wishes, the Irishman pursued a career in mixed martial arts.

McGregor made his MMA professional debut on the London show 'Cage Warrior,' on March 8, 2008, winning by technical knockout.

Despite losing two of his first six fights, McGregor went on an unbelievable win streak, claiming the featherweight and lightweight championships in 2012.

Dana White signed Conor McGregor to the UFC in April 2013, making his debut against Marcus Brimage, winning by knockout in the first round.

McGregor had won six fights in a row when he faced Jose Aldo in December 2015. The Irish fighter put on a scintillating performance, knocking out Aldo in a record 13 seconds, unifying the featherweight belt.

After lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos pulled out of the fight with McGregor, the Irishman jumped up a weight division to fight Nate Diaz.

McGregor lost his first UFC to Diaz after being submitted by chokehold. However, five months later, in August 2016, McGregor beat Diaz via majority decision in one of the greatest UFC fights ever.

In November 2016, McGregor dropped to his more comfortable lightweight division, impressively beating Eddie Alvarez in the second round via TKO, making him the first-ever two-weight UFC champion (lightweight and featherweight).

In early 2018, McGregor and the UFC's relationship became strained, resulting in McGregor being stripped of his two title belts.

His long-awaited return was in a mouth-watering clash against fellow UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight championship belt.

Khabib would eventually win the fight in the fourth round via neck crank submission, retaining his lightweight belt. After the match, both teams of the two fighters erupted, resulting in McGregor being suspended from the UFC for six months.

During his suspension, McGregor announced in March 2019 that he would be retiring from the sport with a record of 21 wins and four losses.

Later in the year, his itch for fighting came back, returning to the ring in January 2020, beating American Donald Cerrone via TKO within the first 40 seconds, recording his second-fastest victory.

McGregor fought Dustin Poirier a year later, in January 2021, losing the match in the second round after being knocked out.

The pair fought again in July of the same year, but this time it ended in horrific circumstances for McGregor, losing at the end of round one due to a stoppage after breaking his leg. This was the first time in his UFC career that he had lost two fights in a row.

After months out, focusing on his whiskey company and recovering from his injury, McGregor looks set to return to UFC against Michael Chandler sometime this year after the pair have starred in the TV show 'The Ultimate Fighter.'