It's incredible to think, as we turn the lights out on 2017, that Conor McGregor ends his year without having once competed in the the sport that launched him to superstardom.
The former plumber from Crumlin has scorched the earth in the last five years, conquering the UFC, attracting frenzied support - and almost as many detractors - the world over.
Moving into the boxing ring, getting a shot at Floyd Mayweather in a bout so stuffed with hype and hyperbole it threatened to spontaneously combust long before they put their (8oz) gloves on, raised his profile to another level.
That hybrid bout was an ugly beast at times, fed as it was by binges of trash-talk that often crossed the line.
The Dubliner hasn't strayed far from the headlines since his honourable defeat back in August though. Love him or loathe him, it's hard to ignore Mystic Mac.
This was Conor McGregor's 2017.
JANUARY
Having secured a professional boxing licence in California at the tail end of 2016, the year begins with the familiar hum of a potential crossover fight with Mayweather.
"It’s a fight the people want. It’s the fight I want," the Dubliner tells MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani. "That fight is being more than explored. That fight has been in the works for a while now."
Mayweather adds fuel to the fire by saying he'll come out of retirement for $100m, telling Showtime later in the month: "I believe the fight could happen. He’s a tough competitor and has proved throughout the years in the UFC that he can fight standing up."
McGregor also announces at a Q&A at Manchester’s Event City that his partner Dee will give birth to a baby boy in April.
"The only time my records are going to be broken are by him. I’m going to train this child."
FEBRUARY
Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Anthony Marnel keeps the ball rolling as he claims talks have opened for a superfight.
"The Nevada Athletic Commission, in my experience, has always been well-briefed by all parties on an event or potential event that may take place in Las Vegas," he says.
"We are aware of conversations and information that has been disclosed and not disclosed in the media. Whether these conversations will get to a point that a fight happens, I can’t tell you."
Mayweather issues a come-and-get-me plea to his potential rival, tweeting: "Listen, Conor McGregor, if you really want to get this fight done, take care of your business with the UFC and then have your people get in touch with my people."
Meanwhile, interim UFC lightweight title challenger Tony Ferguson accuses McGregor of running scared. "He’s trying to avoid me by going over to boxing," the American says.
And in an unlikely twist, the Crumlin man finds himself being compared to the nation's best known twins.
"We're like Conor McGregor, we are representing the country and everyone is like, 'come on Jedward'," John and Edward tell The Ray D'Arcy Show after their stint in the Celebrity Big Brother House.
Cool.
MARCH
UFC President Dana White airs his belief McGregor-Mayweather will come together.
"I do think it’s going to happen. I think it’s going to be a tough deal, there’s obviously a lot of egos involved in this deal and a lot of people so that always makes it tougher.
"On the flipside, there’s so much money involved, I just don’t see how it doesn’t happen."
McGregor walks Belfast fighter Michael Conlan to the ring on his pro debut at Madison Square Garden on Paddy's Day and watches his compatriot stop Tim Ibarra in the third round before launching into a tirade at the ringside boxing media.
"Watch me take over boxing, trust me on that," he says. "Watch me step in and shock the whole damn world. Believe me, I'm going to step in there and knock out Floyd (Mayweather) and you're all going to eat your words. I am boxing."
APRIL
Dana White keeps things bubbling with this tidbit: "We haven’t really gotten into that negotiation yet. I wanted to get McGregor locked in first, because McGregor’s under contract with me. At the end of the day, does this fight make a ton of sense for me? It really doesn’t.
"Conor wants this thing really bad, and I’ve said it many times, the kid’s stepped up and saved some big fights for me. So I’m in. I’ll figure it out."
MAY
Conor Jack McGregor makes his entrance to the world, coming in at 8lb 14oz. His father describes him as "the undisputed 9 pound champion of the world".
Mayweather says if he does come out of retirement in an effort to extend his 49-0 record "there’s a 90% chance it’s against Conor McGregor". Excitement is building in some quarters, though not anywhere near Oscar De La Hoya.
He posts a lengthy letter on Facebook imploring fans to boycott the "circus".
"If you thought Mayweather/Pacquiao was a black eye for our sport - a match-up between two of the best pound-for-pound fighters that simply didn’t deliver - just wait until the best boxer of a generation dismantles someone who has never boxed competitively at any level - amateur or professional.
"At this point, only we can shut the circus down by making it clear that we won’t pay to see a joke of a fight and telling our casual-fan friends that they shouldn’t either."
JUNE
Game on. McGregor's bout with Mayweather is finally confirmed as the Nevada Athletic Commission approves a request from Mayweather Promotions to host a fight at Las Vegas's MGM Grand on 26 August.
Both men tweet confirmation of the showdown.
An artist paints a huge mural on the walls of McGregor's Dublin gym which depicts the Irishman smashing Mayweather on the chin.
Conlan reveals he'll help his compatriot train for a showdown with Mayweather, telling Boxing News Online: "He asked me would I come down and be a part of his camp. I think it’ll be a fantastic opportunity to go down and do that.
"I definitely bring something to the table. I’d definitely be able to spot things, if things are wrong, if he’s throwing punches wrong, little things people who aren’t in boxing do naturally.
"I’m not going to say I’m going to teach him how to beat Floyd Mayweather!"
JULY
So begins a period of unrelenting hype.
Mike Tyson predicts "McGregor is going to get killed"; Steve Collins Junior compares the match-up to "putting a greyhound in against a cheetah"; Chris Eubank says "it's likely that Mayweather has taken his eye off the target".
The two fighters embark on a four-date world press tour that kicks off in the Staples Center in LA and ends in London, via Toronto and New York.
They trade insults incessantly, with McGregor straddling the line of common decency - and veering towards explicit racism - when twice telling Mayweather to "dance for me, boy" and, in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live’s Guillermo Rodriguez, saying: "I’m trying to remember which one was Rocky III. Was that the one in the celebrity gym? I can’t remember if that’s the one with the dancing monkeys or not."
In New York, he tells the crowd: "All of the media seem to be saying I'm against black people... do they not know I'm half black? I'm half black from the belly button down."
Mayweather calls his opponents a "stripper" and throws dollar bills at him. He also accuses him of racism, adding: "He totally disrespected black women. He called black people monkeys. Then he spoke disrespectfully to my mother and he spoke disrespectfully to my daughter.
"There are certain levels you don't stoop to and certain levels you just don't go to."
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AUGUST
Both fighters retire to their respective camps as preparations intensify.
Paulie Malignaggi leaves the Dubliner's camp and sparks a war of words that prompts Team McGregor to release footage of sparring sessions that appear to show their man dominating the former two-weight world champion.
Malignaggi confronts McGregor and asks him rhetorically, "did you bring your balls?".
"Get over it. You got your f***ing ass whooped"," comes the reply.
The Nevada State Athletic commission confirm that they will wear 8oz gloves in the super welterweight/junior middleweight face-off, the lighter mitts being regarded as a slight advantage to McGregor, who predicts: "I will rule over MMA and boxing with an iron fist after August 26."
He doesn't. After Imelda May does a lovely job of belting out Amhrán na bhFiann inside the T-Mobile Arena, Mayweather wins the fight with a 10th-round TKO.
He's typically controlled and relatively comfortable throughout but the underdog earns plenty of praise for a respectable showing.
After months of vicious barbs the pair trade compliments. "You're a composed individual," McGregor tells his rival. "You didn't get rattled; you made three game changes during the fight and that's what a true champion does. I would have liked to see the end of the 10th and where it brought us, but he's one hell of a competitor."
The American responds: "I knew he was going to be awkward from the beginning. He lasted a little longer than we expected, but I stuck to the game-plan.
"Conor McGregor is a hell of a fighter and I want to see him continue to stay in the UFC and do what he do best."
McGregor, clutching a bottle of his own branded Notorious whiskey in the post-fight press conference, refuses to rule out a return to the boxing ring: "It is what it is. I'll be back."
He had been guaranteed a minimum of $30m from the fight but is believed to make around triple that when pay-per-view sales, ticket revenue, merchandise sales and sponsorship deals are factored in.
SEPTEMBER
With the dust settled and the figures counted, it's confirmed that the fight failed to break the record for gate receipts at a Vegas boxing bout.
Figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission show the collision took in $55,414,865.79, considerably below the $72,198,500 racked up by Mayweather’s 'Fight of the Century' against Manny Pacquiao two years previously. The pay per view numbers are also down - 4.4 million compared to 4.6 million.
McGregor's coach John Kavanagh reveals his desire to see another clash in the octagon with an old foe. "I’ve said for a long time that the Nate Diaz trilogy fight at lightweight is what I’d personally like to see next," he writes in an exclusive column for The 42.
"That still needs to be put to bed."
OCTOBER
The official trailer for Notorious - a glossy movie documentary about McGregor's rise to superstardom - lands and is slated for a November release date.
However its star pulls out of several media interviews to plug the film when more controversial remarks come to light, this time to Straight Blast Gym Ireland teammate Artem Lobov following his loss to Andre Fili.
Having being asked repeatedly urged to return to his seat by referee Marc Goddard during the fight, McGregor is afterwards caught on camera using a homophobic slur to describe Fili when in deep conversation with Lobov.
He later appears on The Late Late Show to offer a full apology. "I didn’t mean no disrespect," he says. "You’d swear I was screaming at two people of the same sex kissing. I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalised, I was campaigning for that.
"It is another one where things just get blown out and they love to just, any chance they get they love to throw me under the bus. It is what it is. I’ll just say sorry for what I said and that’s it and try to move on from it."
McGregor claims he's in talks over a potential clash with Tony Ferguson in an interview with Entertainment.ie: "I feel I need to legitimise the belt. There’s an interim champion, I’m the unified champion, I feel that’ll be next. We’re currently in contract negotiations and we’ll see where it goes."
NOVEMBER
McGregor causes outrage when he jumps into the cage at the Bellator 187 event in Dublin’s 3 Arena and clashes with his old pal Goddard.
His over-exuberant celebrations of Straight Blast Gym team-mate Charlie Ward's defeat of John Redmond prompt the official to attempt to remove him from the octagon.
McGregor's furious response leads to Mike Mazzulli, the head of the commission that oversaw the Bellator 187 event, to claim he's been axed from December's UFC 219 card.
"Mr McGregor is not bigger than MMA," Mazzulli tells the MMA Hour.
McGregor pens a full apology which he posts on social media, but still takes a swipe at Goddard: "I let my emotions get the best of me and acted out of line. As a multiple weight UFC champion, executive producer, role model and public figure, I must hold myself to a higher standard.
"The referee Marc Godard was making a horrendous decision in trying to pick an unconscious fighter up off the floor and force the fight to continue into the second round. Even against the wishes of the said fighters coach. The fight was over."
Amid reports he became involved in a pub brawl in his hometown of Crumlin, UFC President White admits he's not sure McGregor will ever fight again.
"Fighting’s the worst," he says. "Try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you’ve got $100m in the bank. Money changes everything with a lot of people."
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Towards the end of the month, McGregor appears at Blanchardstown District Court pleads guilty to a speeding charge that dates back to the previous March. When
Judge Miriam Walsh asks: "How much do you earn? Please don’t tell me you earn more than €110 million in a day?" To which he replies: "€140 million."
DECEMBER
The year ends as it began: with rumours circling of a huge-money crossover bout with a boxing great.
Manny Pacquiao pours petrol on some barley glowing sparks when he says: "If we can negotiate it, I have no problem. It is OK with both of us." It comes a few weeks after the Filipino shared the below Instagram post.
Dana White warns Pacquiao that he'll sue if they make direct contact with McGregor rather than going through the UFC: "He’s under contract with us. If that's true, I will be suing Manny Pacquiao and whoever's representing him. So, I'm assuming that's not true."
In another twist, Mayweather says he's been offered a monster payday to take on McGregor in the octagon.
The 40-year-old claims he has the option to come out of retirement for "a three or four-fight deal" with the UFC that would be worth up to a billion dollars.
"They called me not too long ago and asked me to come back," he tells FightHype.com. "I can come right back. If I want to, I can come right back to the UFC."
McGregor, meanwhile, confirms he has no huge desire get the mitts on any time soon. stepping back into the boxing ring anytime soon. "I think a true fight is what I want to do next. A real fight... MMA next," he tells TMZ in New York.
Twelve months of noise and confusion draw to a close with the fighter gearing up for another hugely anticipated battle: RTÉ's Dancing With The Stars.
His sister Erin will be a contestant on the show in January with little brother in her corner.
Christmas was spent at home, in matching family onesies...
