Fighters often say that respect is won in combat and if he didn’t have it already, Conor McGregor should’ve earned the respect of everyone in the combat sports community last evening.

The UFC lightweight champion was the subject of some ridiculous criticism prior to last evening’s bout and for much of the build-up to the fight he was ridiculed as an unworthy opponent who was simply a part of Floyd Mayweather’s latest cash grab.

That was all quickly proven to be inaccurate last evening and the Irishman did himself, his country, and the sport of MMA proud.

Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Post-fight Floyd Mayweather celebrates his victory over Conor McGregor. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Mayweather vs McGregor Conor McGregor arrives in the ring first. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 1 McGregor shot out of the blocks to take the fight to Mayweather. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 2 McGregor looked calm and in control as he took the opening round. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 3 Mayweather started to fight back from the third round. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 3 McGregor was struggling to contain Mayweather and was warned numerous times by the referee. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 4 The UFC star struggled with the pace of the fight as his fitness levels waned. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 4 Mayweather was able to evade all of McGregor's attacks. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 5 Mayweather shoved McGregor after the ball at the end of the fifth. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 6 The Irishman started to glance regularly at the clock. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 7 Mayweather was landing big shots at will with McGregor showing no defence. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 8 More punishment was dished out on the eighth round. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 9 The fight was nearly stopped in the ninth as Mayweather had McGregor on the ropes. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in pictures Round 10 Referee Robert Byrd eventually waved off the fight in the tenth round. Getty

Some seasoned writers in the boxing fraternity suggested that McGregor wouldn’t be able to lay a glove on Mayweather and that was proven to be an inaccurate very early in the fight. McGregor started at a very fast paced and he had success in rounds one to four taking the fight to Mayweather.

The Irishman landed some hooks and uppercuts during the first 12-minutes but Mayweather simply did what he’s done throughout his entire career, he downloaded the data, worked out his opponent, and then made his gameplan up on the fly and capitalised as the Irishman tired.

McGregor was disappointed that the fight was stopped when it was, but things only looked like they were going one way and the stoppage saved McGregor from taking any unnecessary damage. After the fight, it was revealed that in just nine and a half rounds, McGregor landed 111 strikes. In comparison, Canelo landed 117 and Manny Pacquiao landed just 81 strikes and both those fights went the full 12-rounds.

For a man that wasn’t supposed to land a glove on Mayweather, McGregor did incredibly well and speaking in the post-fight press conference, he appeared to be disappointed, but proud of his efforts.

There’s a few things to be learned from what transpired last night and one of the takeaways should be that the sport of MMA needs to be given more respect from some people in the boxing. Last evening proved that it is incorrect to write off McGregor’s chances based on the fact he’s a mixed martial artist by trade.

McGregor, for a decent part of the fight, was the one in ascendency and at times he caught Mayweather off-guard with some non-conventional striking patterns that the American had simply never seen or faced before.

Winning three to five rounds against Mayweather was always going to be a big achievement and it’s fair to say that the momentum of the bout only started to shift when McGregor started to fatigue.

Facts are facts though and while McGregor had his success early on, plenty of pundits correctly predicted that from round seven onwards Mayweather would start to fight more aggressively.

Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Show all 10 1 /10 Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Mike Tyson watches on from ringside at Mauweather vs McGregor AP Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Demi Lovato arrives at the T-Mobile Arena Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs LeBron James takes his seat inside the T-Mobile Arena AP Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Bruce Willis arrives ahead of the fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and son Jack watch the action from ringside. Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs William H Macy arrives at the T-Mobile Arena Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Don Cheedle arrives at the T-Mobile Arena Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Actress Ari Graynor arrives ahead of Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Conor McGregor arrives at the T-Mobile Arena ahead of his fight against Floyd Mayweather Getty Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor - the VIPs Dee Devlin, girlfriend of Conor McGregor, arrives at the T-Mobile Arena with their son Conor Jr Getty

There’s going to be plenty to unpack in the comings days about this one fight, but one of the big take outs should be that a man from the world of MMA came in and landed more shots on Mayweather than some of the greatest boxing talents of our generation.

McGregor may not have been the man with his hand raised last evening but he left the ring proving to everyone that he deserved to be there.