Despite all of the bravado, sh*t talking, and arctic bear jackets, Conor McGregor puts on a custom made “f*ck you” suit like Superman puts on his cape. With just a few weeks to go until he steps into the ring with Floyd Mayweather, the story of the brash Irishman is coming into focus, not on his current madman persona, but on where he came from and his cerebral, if not offensive take on the business of fighting.
Conor McGregor came from nothing, and it’s been mentioned numerous times that just five years ago, Conor McGregor was collecting a welfare paycheck while working as a part-time plumber and a full-time fighter. He was just another one of those fighters you saw a clip of on Twitter, fighting in small arenas for smaller paychecks. Now he’s a superstar, but a recent exposé on McGregor in ESPN paints a picture of a man who has a private jet, but never left the mentality of a kid scraping by in Dublin, idolizing great martial artists.
McGregor flaunts his wealth so much you’d think his entire fighting career was based around making money, but the man has an incredible amount of pride from where he comes from and who he’s become.Irish boxer Michael Conlan said the difference between his public persona and private character was like: “chalk and cheese — complete opposites.” Speaking to his coach John Kavanaugh, McGregor boiled down the Mayweather fight in terms you won’t see on a poster: “I don’t give a f* about the money. This is Bruce Lee sh*t. This is the water filling the cup.”
Even if the fight between these two is a circus, how can you not respect McGregor for taking the fight? Of course, $100 million dollars makes it easier for him to step into the ring, but a man with no pro boxing experience, willing to step into a ring in front of millions, ready and willing to be embarrassed knowing that the Dublin working-class toughness is what got him here. When the people of Dublin come up in conversation in the ESPN piece, McGregor, like so many times, shows pride: “That’s my people. That’s who I am.”
McGregor can be obnoxious in the promotion of a battle, but we can all at least admit that he’s simply doing what he has to do to get the job. He’s seen the lowest dredges in Dublin, and he knows one good shot can end a career. Maybe McGregor is the exact opposite of what the martial arts community wants but doesn’t know it needs. So many MMA fans want the cold, calm fierceness of a Fedor with the marketability of a Floyd. Business has made it that the quiet killer no longer exists in a marketable place in the fight game, and so we can at least take comfort, as fight fans, knowing that Conor McGregor is the martial artist we want, we’re just rarely able to enjoy it out of a few humble moments during post-fight press conferences.
(Via ESPN)
