Conor McGregor is finally making his comeback to the UFC after five years away, but even as he prepares to fight Max Holloway on July 11, he rarely escapes a multitude of headlines that bring up all of his bad behavior from the past.
Since he last fought in 2021, McGregor faced a sexual assault allegation in Miami (a case that was later dropped and he faced no actual charges), he was accused of assaulting a woman on his yacht (again, he never faced criminal charges) and most famously he was found liable in a civil case in an Ireland court for a separate sexual assault allegation dating back to 2018. Despite all his fame and fortune, McGregor has definitely done himself no favors with his behavior outside the cage, but as he prepares for his upcoming fight at UFC 329, the Irish superstar addressed all the low points — almost always self-inflicted — that have plagued him these past few years.
“Fame has its pitfalls,” McGregor told Paramount. “You better move carefully in this world, for sure, probably even more so now. I’ve taken a lot of lessons in my life, and it’s just about self-discovery. Studying yourself. Learning yourself. Learning triggers. I find myself even now still in a fight with an old version of me or old ways that don’t serve me and new ways and a new version of me, the new me so I still find myself in this balance. Right now.
“More as a human. I went through some treatment, I done a lot of self-reflective work on myself. Internal work and it was outside of this bubble that we find ourself now when I return to the fight game.”
McGregor admits that he still finds himself falling into old patterns as he prepares for his first fight in five years but that’s part of the constant internal battle that never really ends.
“On my immediate return to this game and the cameras and even this now, I found myself reverting to an old version of me,” McGregor explained. “I had to kind of remind myself, hold on, I just had to reflect again and say I’m different now. I’m a different person. I’ve put in work.
“It’s easy to fall into old habits. You have to be careful. You have to practice with people, places, things, protect people, places, things. Don’t find yourself in similar places that you would have been. I’m still in that fight. Competition for me and activity and work helps that for sure. I still have work to do.”
It’s now been a decade since McGregor reached the pinnacle in the UFC when he became the first ever simultaneous two-division champion but that also served as the beginning of his downfall as far as his fight career goes.
After beating Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight title in 2016, McGreogr went onto book a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather that reportedly earned him over $100 million. But after that fight ended, McGregor went through another lengthy layoff before returning and suffering a lopsided loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
Looking back now, McGregor knows he was on top of the world after he conquered two divisions in the UFC but there’s nowhere else to go but down after achieving something so monumental.
“At 27 years of age, I had the game conquered,” McGregor said. “Two-weight world champion, I had the Floyd [Mayweather] bout, boxed off, I was only 27 years of age. I had the game wrapped up in a blink. What more was I to do? I got lost. I got lost in it. Made some mistakes off of that and that’s it. You’ll always come home if you truly love something, you’ll always come home.
“There may be pockets where I would have disrespected and disgraced the position that god put me in. Maybe some fans would see that. Hey he didn’t put in this or he showed no love for the game. That’s probably accurate. It is accurate in fact. But I for sure love this game. It’s my every waking thought is the fight game. I’m excited to come back and showcase it.”
While his full focus is back on fighting, McGregor recognizes it’s always a struggle to make sure he stays on the straight and narrow when it comes to everything else that surrounds his life.
Obviously, McGregor can’t promise he’ll never make a mistake again, but he swears he’s trying to do better.
“It’s day-by-day work,” McGregor said. “Day after day. You’ve got to put it in. The rent is due everyday they say. You’ve got to put the work in. It’s akin to walking a tight rope. You better learn how to balance. You better learn and practice your balance. Life is about balance. If you don’t, you’re one slight wobble from falling off entirely and it can be drastic.
“Even more so to a person who puts in work and makes in roads to becoming better and leaving a certain way behind. You’re even more on the tight rope. The tight rope is even thinner for them because if it goes, it’s a heavier drop. It’s day by day you work.”
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