Conor McGregor content with UFC career but dreams of fighting as President of Ireland
A fighting Irish President? That's what Conor McGregor is planning on.
McGregor's recent meeting with United States President Donald Trump has further fuelled his ambition to run for President of Ireland. The former two-division UFC champion hasn't competed in MMA since July 2021 when he broke his leg in a trilogy-fight loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 164, which has many doubting that he'll ever fight again.
Although McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) admits he's currently wrapped up with focusing on the politics of Ireland, he insists fighting is still part of his plans.
'F*cking right I will, of course, are you crazy? That's part of why I want to do it,' McGregor said during the BKFC 70 post-fight press conference (h/t The MacLife). 'To be announced as the President of Ireland while having a fight? Imagine that. But for sure, hell yes, hell yes.'
McGregor revealed that he was recently offered a fight outside of the UFC, which he declined. Although he reiterates his desire to compete again, 'The Notorious,' now 36, said he's content with what he's achieved.
'I've got two fights on the contract, I'm in negotiations,' McGregor said when asked about fighting at BKFC. 'Last week something happened to me, I went to the White House, and my heart bleeds for my country right now. So, there's a lot of stuff going on back home, I'm happy with what I've done. There's something else for me that's in my gut right now and that's kind of where I'm going. So, we'll see. Greatness does not rush. There was an opportunity or a deal, we'll say, to fight in Alcatraz only recent.
'There's an event going on in Alcatraz in, I believe, June. They came to me and it wasn't my worth. As a fighter, we've got to know our worth. I hold every pay-per-view record in the book, I hold every gate record in the book, and my comeback will be slated as the greatest or the biggest, most anticipated comeback of all time. So, it has to be right. Right now, Ireland is in my thoughts and that's where I'm at, but it will happen, I am sure and it's always great to be here.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
UFC on ESPN 69's Cody Garbrandt says Sean O'Malley 'looked like sh*t' in title fight loss
UFC on ESPN 69's Cody Garbrandt says Sean O'Malley 'looked like sh*t' in title fight loss ATLANTA – Cody Garbrandt is fully focused on getting back on track with a UFC on ESPN 69 win over Raoni Barcelos on Saturday, but if he gets it done, a big fight could await. Former UFC bantamweight champ Garbrandt (14-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) competes for the first time since UFC 300 in April 2024 when he takes on Barcelos (19-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) at State Farm Arena (ESPN, ESPN+). It's an important bout for him, especially after recently signing a new multi-fight contract with the promotion. If Garbrandt can pull off something spectacular this weekend, as he has many times before, then it's hard not to consider a potential showdown with Sean O'Malley, who he once had a heated press conference exchange with and has since fired many verbal and social media shots toward. With O'Malley on a two-fight losing streak after consecutive title losses to champ Merab Dvalishvili, most recently at UFC 316 this month, it could be a potentially good time for the pair to settle their differences. "He should've kept smoking because he looked like sh*t," Garbrandt told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday's media day. "Whatever you have to do. Sometimes you lose and you try to reinvent yourself and find yourself. At the end of the day, you know who you are, you know what you've got to do. I know I'm one of the best fighters in the world. When you lose you've got everyone in your ear saying you've got to do this and you've got to do that. Just remember what got you there and who you are the end of the day. I think that's a huge fight and pay-per-view sale, Sean and I. But I'm focused on this fight this Saturday and then we'll let everything else fall in line." After dealing with some health issues including vertigo, Garbrandt, 33, said this is "the best I've felt in a while" due to mental and emotionally clarity. He hopes that translated into the octagon, because while his reign as champion is now many years ago and there's been many ups and downs since then, Garbrandt admits he doesn't have satisfaction with his career. "I'm a former world champion – yeah, that's great," Garbrandt said. "It's something that was amazing to accomplish, but it didn't fulfilled me. For me to be here, going through what I've gone through (with) the injuries, setbacks, losses – whatever you want to call it. To wake up every day and chase this dream, to push yourself to a limit and set goals inside of the fight career, it's something that wakes me up every day. It motivates me, it scares me and fills me with all different kinds of emotions to get in there and fight another man that's willing to do whatever to get the win."
USA Today
42 minutes ago
- USA Today
ESPN believes that Notre Dame football will be a top-5 team over the next few seasons
ESPN believes that Notre Dame football will be a top-5 team over the next few seasons We all say that Notre Dame's football future is bright, and on Wednesday ESPN's Adam Rittenberg backed that idea up. When looking ahead to who he believes will be the top teams over the next two seasons, he ranked the Irish as his No. 5 team. It's a slight jump from last year, when Notre Dame was No. 7, for more than a few reasons. Rittenberg went on the explain that while the Irish aren't returning their starting quarterback, they should have a multiple year starts whoever (CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey) wins the job. He believes that the offensive line 'should be one of the nation's most talented groups,' along with the defensive line being loaded with talent despite having to replace more on this side of the ball. He lauds head coach Marcus Freeman's roster management, noting that the transfer additions will help immediately and 'retaining arguably the nation's best running back room and its gifted young offensive linemen.' Rittenberg mentions Notre Dame's star power also, as running back Jeremiyah Love, linebackers Drayk Bowen, cornerback Leonard Moore and safety Adon Shuler should be household names. As far as the coaching staff, Rittenberg has Freeman 'as one of the sport's top young coaches,' but did say that new defensive coordinator Chris Ash has 'big shoes' to fill replacing Al Golden. Put all this together, Notre Dame has one of the brighter immediate futures in college football, as just four others teams are viewed as being potentially better. It's going to a be a great few years of Irish football, starting very soon.
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
Trump Picked the Worst Possible Time to Hold a Military Parade
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME's politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. It's sometimes easy to go numb living here in Washington. On most days, the Vice President's motorcade rumbles under many of our office windows, traveling from the Naval Observatory to the White House in the morning and back shortly after his workday ends. It's not uncommon to spot a trio of white-topped helicopters zipping over the Potomac while crowds are having dinner down at The Wharf; one is transporting a head of state while the other two are decoys. And was that the Irish Taoiseach hanging out at Little Gay Pub and Kiki on St. Patrick's Day weekend? Yes, that nation's then-leader was visiting from Dublin and making the rounds on the LGBTQ circuit after his official day ended. But the scene in my neighborhood the last two nights stood as a stark reminder that this weekend is shaping up to be surreal, even by D.C. standards. It's been hard to miss the military tanks rolling by on flatbed trucks around Eckington, Bloomingdale, and Shaw, heading past the city's convention center to get in position for a pricey parade on Saturday ordered by President Donald Trump. And if that spectacle were not shocking enough on its own, these giant weapons of war have been rumbling through residential streets in the U.S. capital at the same time as U.S. troops are deployed in the nation's second-largest city to help advance deeply unpopular immigration raids that have sparked protests across the nation. The jarring splitscreen reality is one that is arriving at perhaps the most tone-deaf moment so far of Trump's second term. Ostensibly, the parade is marking the quarter-century birthday for the U.S. Army. (It also just happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, which is a very convenient coincidence that has even some of the President's apologists rolling their eyes at the cover story.) On the West Coast, as many as 2,000 National Guardsmen have been ordered up for active duty in Los Angeles, in direct violation of protocols that defer to each state's Governor, who is nominally the commander in chief of their reserve military. Trump also sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles to add to the uniformed legions that, to this point, have inflamed tensions, not quelled them. And there are whiffs that Los Angeles is merely a test case to see just how compliant Americans will be to see the world's greatest fighting force turn against the very people who pick up its tab. As Trump told reporters on Tuesday, those choosing to object publicly may come to regret it: 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.' So as Trump stands in Washington this Saturday as M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored vehicles, and M109s tear up some of D.C. iconic boulevards, an actual live military operation stands to be unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles—and maybe other cities as well, given Trump's orders are not limited to that one locality. D.C.'s airspace will be shut down for hours to make way for flying fortresses to buzz overhead. And a trick parachute troop plans to airdrop to the viewing platform to deliver Trump an American flag that is destined to land in his future presidential library. It's one thing to watch a military display for show; it's another to watch live ammo be fired into the air to put down domestic demonstrations. The disconnect between Trump's stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice. Trump has long fetishized the military hardware he controls. During his first term, he sought to flash this power after seeing a similar demonstration on a visit to France for Bastile Day; his military brass convinced him it was a bad idea and not worth the price. Given his long-standing obsession with autocratic regimes, it's little surprise that he is plunging ahead with a flex that feels more like something we'd see in Moscow or Pyongyang. The public is far from covering Trump's flank here. Trump's standing in polls sank underwater in March and hasn't recovered since, according to Nate Silver's modeling. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday puts Trump's approval rating at a measly 38%. He's even drawing a decided deficit on immigration and deportations—previously thought to be his best issues. Going back through post-World War II polling indices, Trump is faring worse than any President since 1953, save for how he was doing during his first term, according to analyst G. Elliott Morris. So as D.C. streets are clogged with war tools staging for Saturday's pricey pageant—6,600 soldiers, 50 aircraft, and 150 military vehicles at a price of $45 million—it's worth reminding ourselves that this is a show that seems to have little purpose beyond boosting Trump's ego. But as his legions of supporters like to say, forget your feelings. The American public is not behind this show, let alone the policies that the White House is hoping it distracts from. The splitscreen between Washington and L.A. is disturbing, the implications dire. It's easy to forget that the nation and the world watch what happens in Washington far closer than the folks who live it day to day, and the war footing being adopted in a city fast approaching warzone timbre is not one that inspires confidence in America as the world's peacemakers. In fact, Trump's birthday blowout could be seen as a reboot of the entire post-Cold War ethos America has strived to convey for the last three decades—all over a parade coinciding with a domestic military crackdown.
