UFC’s Conor McGregor: ‘I pinch myself because I am surrounded by luxury but it is built on sacrifice’
Irishman has gone from trainee plumber to featherweight champion of Ultimate Fighting and living the high life in Las Vegas
Conor McGregor is now so rich and famous that he doesn’t have to roll out of bed before two o’clock on any hot August afternoon in Las Vegas. This past weekend, laced with heavy spending and partying, a 3pm Sunday interview was far too early for the Irish fighter and new sensation of UFC, the booming business of mixed martial arts. McGregor could only be roused at four after he had celebrated his girlfriend’s birthday on Saturday in a style which suits the lavishly-bearded, sharp-suited, big-talking world champion.
“I’ve become accustomed to this life,” McGregor says when we finally start talking while he takes an hour-long drive up and down the Vegas Strip, his new playground and battle arena. “I love what I do and I’m extremely grateful. This weekend has been very good. We got a nice suite overlooking the Strip, at the Cosmopolitan. And we went shopping for 10 hours straight yesterday. I got us a limo and we stuffed it with shopping bags so it was a great day and then we had a great night.”
A 90-minute wait for McGregor is not that surprising, especially from a media phenomenon who calls himself ‘The Notorious’ and was barely known outside his old Dublin neighbourhood of Crumlin two-and-a-half years ago. McGregor once worked as a trainee plumber. Now he is such a huge star that 70,000 people applied for tickets to attend his press conference in Dublin this year.
Most of Ireland’s World Cup rugby squad also got up at the dead of night to watch and whoop, led by the normally unflappable Jonny Sexton and Conor Murray, when McGregor became the UFC’s featherweight champion last month after he fulfilled his usual prediction and knocked out Chad Mendes in the second round.
Before the fight, at the MGM Grand, 11,500 fans squeezed into a crammed arena to watch McGregor’s weigh-in. Sinead O’Connor then sang live to accompany McGregor’s walk to the cage where he completed his crushing victory over Mendes. His next fight, against José Aldo in a unification contest, will be another record-breaking event that the UFC could stage at the Dallas Cowboys’ 85,000-seat stadium.
“It’s absolutely insane,” McGregor says as we reflect on his anonymity when, in early 2013, he was still claiming benefits in Dublin before his first UFC contract. “Who has climbed to the pinnacle of the fight game like this? Nobody from Ireland. And to do it in the time I’ve done it, so quick? It’s mind-blowing. But I never forget the struggles. I never forget where I came from. I never ever forget the hard times. I pinch myself because I am surrounded by luxury. But make no mistake – it’s luxury built on sacrifice.”
McGregor remembers being lost at 17 and on a desolate road to becoming a plumber. His parents had moved the family out of Crumlin to a better part of Dublin but McGregor resented the move. “I never truly left Crumlin. You have your friends at that age and where we moved to I didn’t relate to anyone. My boxing gym was in Crumlin, my football club was in Crumlin. I love Crumlin dearly. I love Dublin 12 dearly. Anytime I am back in Dublin I head to Crumlin, to my friends. I’ve had many great moments – but to go back this month to Crumlin as the UFC world champion will be the pinnacle.”
Moving from Crumlin coincided with his mum’s grand plumbing plan. “It just wasn’t for me,” he says of life as an apprentice plumber. “I was waking at 5am and walking in the dark, freezing cold until I reached the motorway and waited for a guy I didn’t even know to take me to the site, where I worked for 12 hours and then got driven back and walked home. I know there are passionate, skilled plumbers. But I had no love for plumbing.
“After school you go to college or get a trade. You don’t sit around doing nothing. My parents dragged me out of bed but I was unsure what I wanted to do. Then my mother found me this place in the plumbing industry. It’s weird how society works. Rather than allowing you time to find the thing you love and can pursue with complete conviction, we’re told: ‘You must work – no matter how much you dislike it.’ I just felt I was going to be the person I wanted to be, regardless of what anyone said.”
McGregor told his parents that his plumbing career was over and, to their confusion, promised he would become a UFC world champion. “When I got into combat sports it was to defend myself. I just started out with a love of learning how to fight, mastering defence and attack. Then the UFC came to Dublin [in 2009] and I saw the machine in full flow. I thought: ‘There’s a place I can make a good living’. I saw all the fans and fighters and I didn’t see me. I was different. I knew people would love that. So it started with a love for the sport and it’s been strengthened by a love for the money it brings.”
His professional MMA career began as a cage fighter in March 2008 – when he was only 19. He won his first bout at an event called Cage of Truth 2 in Dublin. He lost twice as a young pro but then a nine-fight winning streak, coupled with his outrageous capacity for promotional hype, won him his first UFC contract in early 2013. McGregor’s subsequent rise has been astonishing. He is the smartest trash-talker and savviest self-publicist in the business. And he can fight. Against Mendes he overcame his opponent’s prowess as a wrestler to knock him out.
Continued at: UFC’s Conor McGregor: ‘I pinch myself because I am surrounded by luxury but it is built on sacrifice’ | Sport | The Guardian
Irishman has gone from trainee plumber to featherweight champion of Ultimate Fighting and living the high life in Las Vegas
Conor McGregor is now so rich and famous that he doesn’t have to roll out of bed before two o’clock on any hot August afternoon in Las Vegas. This past weekend, laced with heavy spending and partying, a 3pm Sunday interview was far too early for the Irish fighter and new sensation of UFC, the booming business of mixed martial arts. McGregor could only be roused at four after he had celebrated his girlfriend’s birthday on Saturday in a style which suits the lavishly-bearded, sharp-suited, big-talking world champion.
“I’ve become accustomed to this life,” McGregor says when we finally start talking while he takes an hour-long drive up and down the Vegas Strip, his new playground and battle arena. “I love what I do and I’m extremely grateful. This weekend has been very good. We got a nice suite overlooking the Strip, at the Cosmopolitan. And we went shopping for 10 hours straight yesterday. I got us a limo and we stuffed it with shopping bags so it was a great day and then we had a great night.”
A 90-minute wait for McGregor is not that surprising, especially from a media phenomenon who calls himself ‘The Notorious’ and was barely known outside his old Dublin neighbourhood of Crumlin two-and-a-half years ago. McGregor once worked as a trainee plumber. Now he is such a huge star that 70,000 people applied for tickets to attend his press conference in Dublin this year.
Most of Ireland’s World Cup rugby squad also got up at the dead of night to watch and whoop, led by the normally unflappable Jonny Sexton and Conor Murray, when McGregor became the UFC’s featherweight champion last month after he fulfilled his usual prediction and knocked out Chad Mendes in the second round.
Before the fight, at the MGM Grand, 11,500 fans squeezed into a crammed arena to watch McGregor’s weigh-in. Sinead O’Connor then sang live to accompany McGregor’s walk to the cage where he completed his crushing victory over Mendes. His next fight, against José Aldo in a unification contest, will be another record-breaking event that the UFC could stage at the Dallas Cowboys’ 85,000-seat stadium.
“It’s absolutely insane,” McGregor says as we reflect on his anonymity when, in early 2013, he was still claiming benefits in Dublin before his first UFC contract. “Who has climbed to the pinnacle of the fight game like this? Nobody from Ireland. And to do it in the time I’ve done it, so quick? It’s mind-blowing. But I never forget the struggles. I never forget where I came from. I never ever forget the hard times. I pinch myself because I am surrounded by luxury. But make no mistake – it’s luxury built on sacrifice.”
McGregor remembers being lost at 17 and on a desolate road to becoming a plumber. His parents had moved the family out of Crumlin to a better part of Dublin but McGregor resented the move. “I never truly left Crumlin. You have your friends at that age and where we moved to I didn’t relate to anyone. My boxing gym was in Crumlin, my football club was in Crumlin. I love Crumlin dearly. I love Dublin 12 dearly. Anytime I am back in Dublin I head to Crumlin, to my friends. I’ve had many great moments – but to go back this month to Crumlin as the UFC world champion will be the pinnacle.”
Moving from Crumlin coincided with his mum’s grand plumbing plan. “It just wasn’t for me,” he says of life as an apprentice plumber. “I was waking at 5am and walking in the dark, freezing cold until I reached the motorway and waited for a guy I didn’t even know to take me to the site, where I worked for 12 hours and then got driven back and walked home. I know there are passionate, skilled plumbers. But I had no love for plumbing.
“After school you go to college or get a trade. You don’t sit around doing nothing. My parents dragged me out of bed but I was unsure what I wanted to do. Then my mother found me this place in the plumbing industry. It’s weird how society works. Rather than allowing you time to find the thing you love and can pursue with complete conviction, we’re told: ‘You must work – no matter how much you dislike it.’ I just felt I was going to be the person I wanted to be, regardless of what anyone said.”
McGregor told his parents that his plumbing career was over and, to their confusion, promised he would become a UFC world champion. “When I got into combat sports it was to defend myself. I just started out with a love of learning how to fight, mastering defence and attack. Then the UFC came to Dublin [in 2009] and I saw the machine in full flow. I thought: ‘There’s a place I can make a good living’. I saw all the fans and fighters and I didn’t see me. I was different. I knew people would love that. So it started with a love for the sport and it’s been strengthened by a love for the money it brings.”
His professional MMA career began as a cage fighter in March 2008 – when he was only 19. He won his first bout at an event called Cage of Truth 2 in Dublin. He lost twice as a young pro but then a nine-fight winning streak, coupled with his outrageous capacity for promotional hype, won him his first UFC contract in early 2013. McGregor’s subsequent rise has been astonishing. He is the smartest trash-talker and savviest self-publicist in the business. And he can fight. Against Mendes he overcame his opponent’s prowess as a wrestler to knock him out.
Continued at: UFC’s Conor McGregor: ‘I pinch myself because I am surrounded by luxury but it is built on sacrifice’ | Sport | The Guardian
