“We should have seen it coming.

Rewind to this time last year. Of all the fighters coming off superlative years, of all the burgeoning and blazing stars of the sport, only one of them had the clairvoyance to know where he would end up by year’s end: the man they call “Mystic Mac.”

Entering 2015, McGregor was still plagued by questions and doubters. He had run roughshod over inferior foes, they said; the Ultimate Fighting Championship was handpicking opponents for him to look good against; he had yet to face a stud wrestler; his ground game was completely untested and unproven; he was being promoted because of his trash talk, not his skill. Such accusations brought comfort to the high school coach types who hated his cockiness, and they put staunch McGregorites in a defensive uproar. However, the man himself could not seem to be bothered by any of it…”

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“To many, martial arts are a sort of magic — in every sense of the word. Magic in the sense that it is fascinating, mysterious and incomprehensible how a man or woman can train their body and mind to reliably do the opposite of what comes natural to most people, to fight instead of flee, to move to the side instead of step back, to maneuver into a counter instead of cover up.

Martial arts also evoke the same feelings of skepticism that magic does. There is a long, embarrassing history of ridiculous ideas that are founded in lore more so than actual combat, yet they have come to inhabit a mythological soma. Never mind that things like the death touch or using invisible energy to control people have never been proven to actually work; there are still cultish legions of believers in such techniques. Indeed, magic is usually bulls— and trickery.

Then there is the very real magic, where the impossible happens without explanation or doubt…”

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“When the opening bell sounded between Andrei Arlovski and Travis Browne at UFC 187, fans thought they knew what to expect. Two heavy-hitting heavyweights — one a former champion, the other hailed as a potential future champion — would meet in the middle and throw bombs until one of them went unconscious. True to the high-drama of combat, fans got exactly what they thought they would, yet at the same time, the way it unfolded was completely unpredictable…”

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