he'd run inside his house if he was caught doing things'

Dublin Live

17-06-2025

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Before he was teasing UFC rivals, a young Conor McGregor would unleash his mischievousness on his Crumlin neighbours, before running back into his house.
McGregor, 36, grew up in south Dublin in an area known for its gangland violence and high crime rates with his mother, Margaret and father, Tony
Known as 'the Notorious' throughout his time at UFC, McGregor has been frequently spotted driving his Lamborghini down the same areas he used to walk down as a youngster. But before he was behind the wheel of supercars, his neighbour still remembers McGregor's cheeky demeanour as a youngster.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, before McGregor's lucrative bout against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, his former neighbour, Keith Carolan, said: "He was cheeky, there was no doubt about that. When he would do things he'd run inside and his mother Margaret would come out and defend him.
"He was a little impish bloke. When I say cheeky I don't mean he'd give you backchat, he just had this cheeky grin. He'd say something, or do something, and he'd have this cheeky grin and then he'd go running.
"He was a fast runner as well, you couldn't catch him. He was a normal young fella but he wasn't afraid to speak up for himself. He was brought up right by Margaret and Tony. He'd give you a bit of lip and then he'd run.
"But sometimes he'd just do things for a laugh. You can see it sometimes still in him now. Every now and again when I see him interviewed on the tele you can sometimes see the young Conor comes out."
The early education of "young Conor" largely took place in his local boxing club, where he was trained by two-time Olympian Phil Sutcliffe Sr.. Most of his fighting instincts, including the famous left-cross, which so brutally knocked out Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in 2015 to win him the featherweight championship, were honed under Sutcliffe Sr..
In the build-up to that bout, McGregor got into Aldo's head at every opportunity, whether it was on social media, in the press conferences or in other interviews. Dubliners will never forget the chaos between the pair at the Dublin Convention Centre.
(Image: Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
McGregor strolled up to his rival's desk and stole his title away, prompting the Brazilian to charge at him before UFC president Dana White and security got involved. They were not able to stop the cheeky Crumlin native from taking the belt and shouting: "You're looking at the King."
But while fighting fans and many within Dublin will only remember this side of McGregor, Carolan still remembers him as the cheeky youngster that grew up next door to him.
(Image: AP)
Carolan added: "When he's not brash and when he's not the swaggering Conor McGregor, you see the little young Conor come out. You see the little smile on his face, especially when he's dealing with his fiancee Dee, you see the little smile coming out.
"Or in some of the programmes when you see he's at home with his mam and dad, you see the little look on his face that he used to give when he was a kid, the little look of, 'Oh I'm going to wind these up now.' He was a normal kid but they'd have their fights out there, you know the way kids have their fights and Conor would wind them all up."