Mythical no more: Conor McGregor breaks a leg at UFC 264

No, not in a good way.

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No one wants to see a fight called off due to injury. Even Dustin Poirier, who walked away from the octagon without so much as a scratch, would've preferred to send off Conor McGregor on his own terms. He wasn't far from it either. By the looks of things, a few more elbows in the second round and the night would've been a wrap.

Unfortunately, the curtains were adamant on falling sooner. McGregor's leg snapped in the closing seconds of the first round as he tried to regain balance after a punch. "At the beginning of the fight, I checked a good kick. I bet that's when he cracked it," Poirier revealed afterwards. "Then, on the twist of the punch—it finished [him off]." Just like that, UFC's most anticipated trilogy came to an end. Not with a highlight-worthy knockout, but with a moment that you'd hate to see replayed.

It's not the first time we've seen a freak accident like this either. Anderson Silva in 2013, Chris Weidman earlier this year—I wouldn't recommend a YouTube search. As the reactions roll in though, there is a notable lack of sympathy this time around. Over the years, McGregor has built a career stepping on toes. It's how he earned the moniker 'The Notorious One', and became UFC's most infamous personality.

Throughout McGregor's come-up, there seemed to be an aura of invincibility around him. There was a certain charm to his disrespectful demeanour because every time he stepped in the octagon, he breathed his words into reality. That hasn't been the case for a while now. He has lost three out of his last four bouts and finally, the years of trash talk are being returned in kind. To quote Poirier from the post-fight interview, "Karma's not a bitch, she's a mirror."

In this instance, it certainly didn't help that McGregor was graceless in defeat too. He somehow ignored the pain of a broken leg, only to hurl insults at Poirier's wife before being stretchered off. Hard to expect well-wishes after that.

Although he'll forever be one of the most exciting fighters to have stepped in the octagon, a return to form seems unlikely for McGregor. Meteoric rise, disappointing fall—many would agree that he deserved every bit of both.

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No love lost

Trash talk has always gone hand-in-hand with combat sports, but there's only so much that can be said before lines get crossed. "I can take trash talk," Poirier expressed after the fight. "But [McGregor] was saying that he was gonna murder me—that I'd leave here in a coffin. You don't talk like that to people, man."

Sometimes, it's personal

Conor McGregor lost the UFC Lightweight Championship to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018—in hindsight, the beginning of the end for the Irish fighter. The lead-up to the bout involved similar circumstance, with Nurmagomedov taking offence to Conor's derogatory comments about his family and religion.

"They call me Mystic Mac, 'cause I predict these things."

In his first fight against Dustin Poirier, McGregor predicted and followed through on a first round knock-out. His fortune-telling skills have since taken a bit of a hit.

Personalities sell fights

Fighters like Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz don't need to win to draw a crown. They simply need to show up.

Betrayed by his body

The mind can only manifest so much.