They weren't necessarily "easy" opponents, but anyone who believes that the UFC didn't protect McGregor through the matchmaking with stylistically safe matchups is in denial.
April and August, 2013
#31 Marcus Brimage - Striker
#70 Max Holloway - Striker (injured, short notice)
July and September, 2014
#32 Diego Brandão - Striker/BJJ
#10 Dustin Poirier - Striker/BJJ
*At this point McGregor was expected to face the winner of Aldo/Mendes, but he chose to remain active instead.
January and July, 2015
#19 Dennis Siver - Striker
#4 Chad Mendes - Wrestler (injured, short notice)
You can examine it a step further and look at how the wrestlers were purposely tied up:
November 2014
#2 Frankie Edgar (wrestler) was booked against
#4 Cub Swanson
#6 Ricardo Lamas (wrestler) was booked against
#8 Dennis Bermudez (wrestler).
April 2015
#5 Ricardo Lamas (wrestler) was booked against
#4 Chad Mendes (wrestler).
May 2015
#2 Frankie Edgar (wrestler) was booked against
#4-BW Urijah Faber (wrestler).
If Aldo hadn't gotten injured, it was the UFC's plan to grant McGregor a title shot after having fought only one top ten opponent (who wasn't a wrestler); and during his feud with Diaz the UFC continued tying up his bad matchups at Featherweight until they eventually killed themselves off, which gave McGregor an out to not fighting them.
Additionally, they gifted him a Lightweight title shot in spite of them having been cold on the idea when other champions asked for the same opportunity (Aldo, RDA, etc.). He then goes 1-1 against
#7 Nate Diaz (non-wrestler) and receives yet
another shot at the Lightweight title, in spite of an undefeated contender being promised it (Nurmagomedov).
The thing is, I don't think McGregor would have turned down those fights at Featherweight, and in all likelihood he would've won, but to pretend like the UFC wasn't protecting McGregor is absurd.
