Sherdog.com’s 2016 Fighter of the Year

Conor McGregor outdid himself — and all of his predecessors — over the past 12 months, making history as the first man or woman to hold Ultimate Fighting Championship titles in two weight classes simultaneously. While his sailing was not entirely smooth, the unprecedented nature of his achievement left him in a class all by himself and made him the Sherdog.com “Fighter of the Year” for the second straight year. McGregor overcame an inauspicious start. Then the featherweight champion, the ambitious SBG Ireland export accepted a challenge from Nate Diaz at 170 pounds in the UFC 196 main event on March 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. McGregor entered the cage on the strength of a 15-fight winning streak but tapped to a rear-naked choke from the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt 4:12 into Round 2.A replacement for injured UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, Diaz absorbed a copious amount of punishment from the Irishman. He was on the receiving end of probing left hands and jarring uppercuts but never checked out. The 30-year-old entered the second round battered and bleeding from a cut near his right eye but still very much in the fight. Diaz stunned “The Notorious” one with a straight left and kept throwing punches until an exhausted McGregor went for a desperate takedown. After bailing on a guillotine, Diaz climbed to full mount and forced McGregor to surrender his back. The choke was in place soon after and the tapout was close behind. Their rivalry was just beginning. Diaz and McGregor were slated to headline UFC 200 in July, their rematch front and center for one of the promotion’s most anticipated events of the year. However, McGregor tweeted a supposed retirement announcement on April 19, and the UFC pulled him from the card. UFC President Dana White later clarified that McGregor’s removal was related to his refusal to fulfill media obligations. The controversies did not end there. With fences between the UFC and its biggest star apparently mended, the McGregor-Diaz rematch was rescheduled for late summer. During a pre-fight press conference, McGregor was involved in an incident in which he threw water bottles and a Monster energy drink at Diaz. An MGM Grand Garden Arena security guard was reportedly injured in the fracas, as the Irishman and Diaz fired objects at one another with a crowd of onlookers stuck between them. Their battle in the UFC 202 headliner on Aug. 20 exceeded expectations, as McGregor took a majority decision from Diaz at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Judges Derek Cleary and Jeff …

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