I want you to picture a movie script. The opening
scene is gritty, it's gray, and it's cold. We're
in a working class suburb of Dublin. It's maybe
2007. The camera follows a young guy, barely
out of his teens, waking up at 5 a .m. in the
pitch black. He drags himself out of bed, puts
on these heavy work boots, and heads out to a
building site. He's a plumber's apprentice. Right.
So a trade, a real job. A real job. He spends
his days fixing pipes, freezing his hands off,
getting yelled at by foremen. And you can just
tell he absolutely hates it. And then one day
he just he just stops. He looks at this reliable,
sensible life his parents want for him, a trade,
a steady paycheck, a pension. And he just walks
away. It sounds like the classic refusal of the
call from the hero's journey or maybe the refusal
of the ordinary world. Exactly. He quits his
job to chase a dream that. To everyone in his
neighborhood, you have to imagine it looked completely
delusional. He decides he's going to be a professional
fighter. And not just a fighter. No, not just
a fighter. He tells everyone who will listen
with this absolute conviction that he is going
to be the king. And the incredible thing is that
for a solid decade, reality actually bent to
his will. It's bizarre. It did. It played out
exactly like the first act of a blockbuster movie.
He goes from walking into the post office to
collect social welfare checks. I mean, literally
living on the dole. It's almost. unbelievable,
that detail. To selling out Madison Square Garden.
He becomes the first fighter in UFC history to
hold two championship belts at the same time.
He fights the greatest boxer of his generation
and pockets something like a hundred million
dollars in a single night. It is the ultimate
rags to riches story. But here's the thing about
movies based on real life. They don't always
end when the credits roll on the triumph. If
this whole story is a movie, it shifted genres.
It started as Rocky. Yeah. Turned into The Wolf
of Wall Street. And then somewhere along the
line, it just began to look like a tragedy. That
is exactly what we are here to unpack today.
We are doing a deep dive into the life, the career,
and the incredibly turbulent fall of Conor the
Notorious McGregor. And frankly, looking at where
we are right now. In January 2026, the picture
is just so complicated. It really is. We have
a figure who is arguably the most famous Irishman
of the 21st century, but who has also become,
well, a pariah in many circles. It is a study
in extreme dichotomy. On one side, you have the
athlete who... completely revolutionized the
economics of mixed martial arts. I mean, he didn't
just play the game. He changed how the game was
sold. For sure. And then on the other side, you
have a man plagued by legal issues, assault convictions,
and a very, very serious civil rape verdict that
came down in late 2024, not to mention a disastrous
attempt to enter politics just last year. So
the mission for this deep dive is to connect
those dots. How did we get from the plumber in
Kremlin to the champ champ? And then how did
we get from there to the man who was throwing
dollies at buses and getting suspended for drug
testing failures? And we should probably establish
the context right now. As we're speaking, McGregor
is serving an 18 month suspension. He's actually
eligible to return to the cage in March 2026.
So just a couple of months from now. But the
baggage he's carrying into this potential return
is heavier than it has ever been. I mean, it's
a mountain of baggage. OK, let's rewind then.
Let's go all the way back to the beginning. Before
the yachts, before the Lamborghinis. We're in
Crumlin, Dublin, born in 1988. Parents Tony and
Margaret. Right. And Tony's a Liverpool man originally,
actually. It's a very working class upbringing.
And like a lot of fighters' stories, McGregor's
starts with self -defense. He wasn't looking
for glory initially. He was just looking for
a bit of safety. So it wasn't about being a champion
from day one. No, not at all. He took up boxing
at 12 years old at the Crumlin Boxing Club because
he was dealing with bullies. He just wanted some
confidence. Which is fascinating because confidence
is practically his middle name now. But back
then, he was just a kid trying to not get pushed
around. The family moves to Lucan when he's about
13, and that's where the real world starts to
intrude. Right. His parents want him to have
a trade. The skill. So the plumbing apprenticeship
begins. And this is such a pivotal moment. He
did it for about a year, but he described it
as just miserable. Long hours, zero interest,
the damp, the cold. And this is where you see
that first spark of, I don't know, unmitigated
ambition or maybe just stubbornness. I think
it's a bit of both. He quit. Against his parents'
hesitation, his father was reportedly furious
about it. He quit to pursue MMA full -time. He
met Tom Egan, who would also become a UFC fighter,
and eventually found his way to John Kavanaugh
at SBG Ireland's Straight Blast Gym. And Kavanaugh
is such a huge part of the story. He's the Yoda
to McGregor's Luke Skywalker, you know? He really
is. But it wasn't a straight shot to stardom,
not by any means. There's this detail I always
love. Right before his UFC debut in 2013, McGregor
was collecting social welfare. The dull checks.
The rags to riches narrative is very, very real
here. He had something like 188 euros to his
name. But he wasn't a total novice. He'd had
success in Europe first, fighting for a promotion
called Cage Warriors. And this is really important,
isn't it? What he did there. It's the blueprint.
In Cage Warriors, he won the featherweight title
and then he moved up and won the lightweight
title. He held them simultaneously. He had already
done in the minor leagues exactly what he promised
everyone he would do in the major leagues. So
2013 rolls around. Dana White, the UFC president,
he visits Dublin to get an award from Trinity
College. And apparently he gets flooded with
people telling him, you have to sign this McGregor
kid. Everyone's talking about him. He meets him,
talks to him, and boom, he gets a contract. And
the debut happens in April 2013 against Marcus
Brimage. 60 G's baby? Exactly. He knocks Brimage
out in the first round. It wasn't just a win.
It was a demolition. He grabs the microphone
and screams for the knockout of the night bonus.
That one moment just encapsulated everything.
It did. The skill was obviously there. The technical
skill was there. He has that southpaw stance,
the constant pressure, and that incredible pullback
left hand, which is just his most dangerous weapon.
OK, wait, can you explain that pullback for people
who, you know, maybe aren't fight nerds? What
does that actually mean? Sure. Yeah. McGregor
fights southpaw. So that means his right hand
is forward and his power hand, the left, is in
the back. Most people fight orthodox with their
left forward. Right. So it creates a different
kind of angle. It creates what's called an open
stance where both fighters are a bit more vulnerable.
And what McGregor had was this this almost supernatural
ability to judge distance. He would lean his
head forward. baiting you daring you to take
a swing at him he's setting a trap he's setting
a trap and when you did swing he would lean his
head back just enough to make you miss by an
inch and while you were overextended from your
punch he would fire that left hand straight down
the pipe it was like a piston So he wasn't just
brawling. He was sniping. He was a counter -striker.
A precision counter -striker. And he just tore
through the division. He won fight after fight.
But the psychological aspect was just as heavy
as the physical one. He would trash -talk opponents
until they were angry, they were emotional, and
they started making mistakes. He weaponized language.
He absolutely did. People compared him to Muhammad
Ali, though he did, to his credit, respectfully
say Ali was special and sort of rejected the
direct comparison. But the method was similar.
Break them mentally before the bell even rings.
Make them fight your fight. Make them fight on
emotion while he fought on cold, hard calculation.
Which brings us to the peak, the absolute zenith
of the notorious era, 2015 and 2016. The Jose
Aldo fight at UFC 194, December 2015. This still
blows my mind every time I think about it. Jose
Aldo hadn't lost a fight in 10 years. He was
the undisputed king of the featherweights. And
McGregor spends months just tormenting him on
a world tour. Oh, it was brutal. They go to Rio,
Aldo's home turf. They go to Dublin. McGregor
is snatching his belt at press conferences. He's
speaking Portuguese just to taunt him. He's inside
his head. The UFC spent more money promoting
that fight than any in its history up to that
point. The tension was just unbearable. Aldo
was arguably the greatest pound -for -pound fighter
on the planet. And then the fight starts. And
13 seconds later, it's over. One punch, it's
all it took. Aldo, who was usually so patient
and calculated, he lunged in. He was emotional.
McGregor hit that slip left hook while moving
backward. It was perfect. Fastest finish in UFC
title fight history. He didn't just beat the
unbeatable champion, he evaporated him. That
was the moment Conor McGregor went from being
a UFC star to a global superstar. It wasn't just
sports anymore, it felt like magic. But then
we get the first stumble, which I think paradoxically
actually made him bigger. The Nate Diaz rivalry.
Yes. March 2016. McGregor is supposed to fight
for the lightweight belt, but his opponent, Rafael
dos Anjos, pulls out with a broken foot. Right.
Short notice. Very short notice. Nate Diaz steps
in. But Diaz says he can't make the lightweight
limit, so the fight is at welterweight, 170 pounds.
And that's a huge jump for McGregor. It's a massive
jump. He had just fought at 145 pounds against
Aldo. He's moving up two weight classes. And
he loses. He hits Diaz with everything he has
in that first round, but Diaz is like a zombie.
He just keeps coming forward, bleeding, talking
trash. And Conor gases out. He gets tired. Diaz
rocks him on the feet and then chokes him out
on the ground in the second round. He taps out.
He does. And afterward, he gave that famous quote,
I was inefficient with my energy. But instead
of hiding or going back down and wait where it
was safe, he became completely obsessed. He demanded
an immediate rematch. At the same weight? At
the exact same weight. He had to correct the
air. He couldn't let it stand. Which happened
at UFC 202. And that fight, I mean, it was a
war. It was five rounds of pure attrition. Back
and forth. McGregor knocks him down a few times
early. Diaz comes back strong late. McGregor
wins a very close majority decision. But look
at the business side of it. Those two Diaz fights
broke pay -per -view records. 1 .3 million buys
for the first one. 1 .6 million for the rematch.
He proved he could lose and still be the biggest
draw in the entire sport. Bigger than ever, in
fact. And that set the stage for UFC 205. New
York City, Madison Square Garden, November 2016.
This was historic. The UFC had fought for years,
for decades, to get MMA legalized in New York.
And McGregor headlines the very first card at
the world's most famous arena. He's fighting
Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. And
this is widely considered his masterpiece performance,
isn't it? It's his masterclass. He dropped Alvarez
multiple times. It wasn't even close. He looked
like he was in the Matrix, just untouchable.
He won via TKO in the second round. And there
he was sitting on top of the cage, one belt on
one shoulder, one belt on the other. The first
simultaneous two division champion in UFC history.
The champ champs. He'd climb the mountain. He
did exactly what he said he was going to do from
the plumbing site to that moment. But this is
where the story shifts gears, because once you've
conquered the UFC, where do you go next? You
go where the money is. And that led directly
to the money fight in 2017 against Floyd Mayweather.
This was, I mean, it was a circus, but it was
a glorious circus. You have an MMA fighter with
a professional boxing record of 0 -0 challenging
Floyd Mayweather, who is 49 -0 and arguably the
greatest defensive boxer of all time. From a
pure sporting perspective, it was audacious,
bordering on ridiculous. It's like a world -class
tennis player challenging a world -class ping
-pong champion to a match of ping -pong. That's
a great analogy. But from an economic perspective,
it was absolute genius. It generated 4 .3 million
pay -per -view buys in the U .S. alone, the second
highest of all time, only behind Mayweather Pacquiao.
And the payout, I still can't wrap my head around
it. McGregor was guaranteed $30 million, but
reports say he walked away with something like
$130 million when you factor in everything else.
And Mayweather made about $280 million. It's
just monopoly money at that point. And in the
ring, McGregor actually exceeded expectations.
He did. He won the first few rounds on some scorecards.
He landed clean shots early on before Mayweather,
you know, being the master that he is, adjusted,
tired him out, and TKO'd him in the 10th round.
But McGregor didn't lose stock. He gained generational
wealth. He secured the bag. And that wealth allowed
him to build the empire. This is where he pivots
from being an athlete to being a full -blown
mogul. And we have to talk about the whiskey.
Proper, no, 12. Launched in 2018, named after
his Dublin postal code, Dublin 12. And it just
flew off the shelves. People were buying it just
because it was his. It wasn't about the taste,
which let's say it got mixed reviews. It was
about the brand. It was marketing power. at its
absolute finest. He forced the UFC to put the
logo on the canvas during his fights. He was
drinking it at press conferences. He made it
part of his identity. But there is a sour note
here, too, isn't there? The lawsuit. Yeah, his
teammate and friend, Artem Lobov, the guy who
was central to so many of McGregor's beefs and
rivalries, later sued McGregor. Lobov claimed
the whole whiskey brand was his idea, that he
did the initial research and he wanted 5 % of
the proceeds. And what happened with that? Lobov
lost the injunction, right? He did. The court
sided with McGregor, and then McGregor went on
to sell the majority stake to Proximo Spirits
in 2021 for a deal that was worth up to $600
million. $600 million. It's a staggering business
success. He essentially printed money with that
brand. He also started buying pubs in Dublin,
the Black Forge Inn in his home area of Crumlin,
which he renovated into this high -end gastropub,
and also the Marble Arch. And the Marble Arch
purchase is, well, it's telling, isn't it? That
was the very pub where, in 2019, McGregor assaulted
an older man who refused a free shot of his whiskey.
So he bought the pub where he committed the assault.
It feels like a power move, just asserting dominance
over the scene of a crime. It's like saying you
wouldn't drink my whiskey. Now I own the chair
you're sitting on. It's very strange. And we'll
get into the legal stuff more deeply in a bit.
But it's worth noting that the Black Forge Inn
was also the site of a fire in July 2025. Yes,
a fire that was treated as suspicious by the
Gardaí, the Irish police. No casualties, thankfully,
but it shows that his presence in Dublin started
bringing chaos, not just business. Molotov cocktails
were reportedly found at the scene. He suggests
that while he was incredibly rich, he wasn't
exactly popular in his own hometown anymore.
He also got into fashion with a brand called
August McGregor and recently became a part owner
of BKFC, the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
And of course... Hollywood came calling. He was
in the Roadhouse remake with Jake Gyllenhaal
in 2024. Playing a villain, which is a... Essentially
playing a version of himself. But while the bank
account was exploding, the fighting career, the
very thing that built all of this... It started
to rot. And that brings us to Section 3, the
sporting decline. After the Mayweather fight,
he takes a long break from MMA. But when he comes
back to the UFC in 2018, the landscape has completely
changed. There's a new king in town, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
And this rivalry was toxic. It went so far beyond
normal trash talk. It got into religion, nationality,
family. And you can't talk about this fight without
first talking about the bus attack in Brooklyn
in April 2018. Right. McGregor and his crew,
they fly to New York, storm the Barclays Center
during a media day, and McGregor throws a metal
dolly through the window of a bus carrying fighters
because he was looking for Khabib. People were
injured. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg had to be
pulled from their fights because they got shards
of glass in their eyes. Rose Namajunas, another
champion, was reportedly traumatized by the whole
thing. This wasn't promotion. This was criminal
behavior. It was. He pled no contest to disorderly
conduct. But the UFC, in a very controversial
move, used that exact footage to promote the
fight at UFC 229. It became the Eagle versus
the Notorious, the biggest fight in UFC history.
And the fight itself. It was a mauling. Plain
and simple. Khabib dominated him. He dropped
McGregor with a punch, which surprised everyone
because Khabib is known as a wrestler. And then
he submitted him with a neck crank in the fourth
round. He looked... Mortal. He looked like a
guy who hadn't fought in a real MMA cage for
two years and had spent that time on yachts,
not in the gym. And then the post -fight brawl
happened. Complete chaos. Khabib jumped the cage
to go after McGregor's corner. McGregor was inside
the cage fighting Khabib's teammates. It was
the absolute stain on the sport. Both of them
got suspended. That really felt like the turning
point, didn't it? The aura of invincibility was
just gone. Completely shattered. He did return
in 2020 to fight Donald Cowboy Cerrone. He looked
great, knocked him out in 40 seconds with these
unusual shoulder strikes and a head kick. He
became the first fighter to have KO wins in three
different divisions, right? Featherweight, lightweight,
and welterweight. He did. It was an impressive
record. But Cerrone was at the very end of his
career. It was, in hindsight, a bit of a false
dawn. Because then came the Dustin Poirier trilogy
in 2021. Right. And Poirier was a guy McGregor
had beaten very easily back in 2014 on his way
up. But the 2021 version of Dustin Poirier was
a whole different animal. What happened in that
second fight? In January 2021, Poirier utilized
these brutal calf kicks to completely immobilize
McGregor's lead leg. And then once McGregor was
a stationary target, he knocked him out in the
second round. It was the first time McGregor
had ever been knocked out cold in his MMA career.
That image of him just sitting against the fence
looking bewildered, it was jarring to see. And
then the third fight, July 2021. The leg break.
In the first round, McGregor stepped back on
his own leg and his lower tibia just snapped.
The bone broke. The fight was stopped. A TKO
via doctor stoppage. Yes. But even then, while
he was sitting on the canvas with a broken leg,
he was screaming threats at Poirier and his wife.
It was just ugly. There was no grace in it. And
he hasn't fought since. That was in mid -2021.
We are now in January 2026. Well, he tried to.
He coached the Ultimate Fighter television show
against Michael Chandler in 2023. They were scheduled
to fight in June 2024 at UFC 303. But then just
a couple of weeks before the fight. McGregor
pulled out with a broken toe. A broken toe. Yeah.
After years away. And then a few months later
came the official suspension. October 7th, 2025.
And what was that for exactly? He failed to disclose
his whereabouts for drug testing three times
in 2024. It's a clear violation of the anti -doping
policy. The rules are clear. You have to let
them know where you are at all times so they
can show up and test you randomly. He didn't.
And the punishment. An 18 -month suspension,
retroactive to the time of the third failure.
So he's sitting on the sidelines until March
2026. So we have a completely stalled career.
But while the fighting stopped, the trouble didn't.
In fact, you could argue the trouble accelerated.
And we really need to go into the dark side of
this story. The legal battles. It's a very clear
pattern of behavior, and it's been escalating
for years. We've mentioned the driving offenses,
multiple speeding fines, disqualifications. In
July 2024, he got a five -month suspended sentence
and a two -year driving ban for dangerous driving.
This was in his Bentley, right? Yeah, driving
at high speeds, weaving in and out of traffic
on the motorway. Just reckless. And the aggression
isn't just behind the wheel. Remember that incident
at Bellator 187 in 2017? Oh, yeah. He wasn't
even fighting. He jumped the cage to celebrate
with a teammate, got into it with the referee,
Marc Goddard, pushed him, and then slapped the
commissioner who was trying to get him out of
there. Then the bus attack we already covered.
Then the pub punching an older man in the head
because he wouldn't drink the free whiskey. He
pled guilty to that assault, was fined 1 ,000
euro. which, you know, seems trivial in terms
of the punishment for a man that wealthy. But
the PR damage was massive. It made him look like
a common bully. And then there was the bizarre
incident with the Miami Heat mascot in 2023.
I still can't believe that happened. It was supposed
to be a preplanned skit during a timeout to promote
a pain relief spray he was endorsing. And what?
He just took it too far? He punched the mascot,
who was a real person in a suit. so hard that
the man had to go to the ER. It's like he doesn't
have an off switch. Everything has to be dialed
up to 11. It sounds almost like slapstick comedy
until you realize real people are getting hurt.
But those incidents, they really pale in comparison
to the sexual assault allegations. And we need
to be very precise here, just sticking to the
facts as they were presented in court and credible
reports. Yes. This is the gravest part of his
entire recent history. There have been multiple
allegations over the years, an incident in Corsica,
another in Ibiza, which didn't lead to criminal
convictions. A woman jumped from his yacht in
one case. But the case that truly changed everything
was the Nikita Hand case. That's right. This
was a civil trial in Dublin in late 2024. Tell
us about it. Nikita Hand alleged that McGregor
had raped her in a Dublin hotel room back in
December 2018. A civil jury heard all the evidence
in November 2024. And their verdict was that
they found, on the balance of probabilities,
that McGregor had assaulted and raped her. So
just to be clear for everyone listening, that
is a civil verdict, which has a different legal
standard. It's based on the balance of probabilities
rather than the criminal standard of beyond a
reasonable doubt. That is the crucial legal distinction,
yes. But the public and commercial impact was
absolutely seismic. The jury ordered him to pay
about €248 ,000 in damages to Ms. Hand. And that
wasn't all, was it? No. Later, the judge ordered
him to pay her legal costs, which were estimated
to be around $1 .5 million. McGregor, of course,
appealed. But he lost those appeals in July and
December of 2025. The Supreme Court refused to
even hear a further appeal. The verdict stands.
And during that trial, some very damaging details
came out about his lifestyle. Very damaging.
McGregor admitted to cocaine use during the trial.
And the commercial fallout was immediate and
devastating. This wasn't like the bus attack
where sponsors kind of stayed quiet because bad
publicity is still publicity. This was radio
silence. So who dropped him? Who walked away?
Almost everyone. IO Interactive, the video game
company, removed him as a downloadable target
from their Hitman game. Major supermarket chains
in Ireland, Tesco. Super Value delisted his alcohol
brands. The pub chain Weatherspoon stopped selling
his forged Irish stout. And what about the whiskey,
the brand he built? This is perhaps the most
personal blow. Proximo Spirits, the company that
paid him hundreds of millions for proper no,
12, announced they would no longer be using his
name or his image in association with the brand.
Wow. So the brand that he built that literally
carries his neighborhood's postal code. basically
erased him from their own product. That's the
reality. The brand had become toxic. They made
a business calculation that they could sell the
whiskey better without Conor McGregor's face
on it. And there was another case in Miami too,
right? During the NBA Finals in 2023. Yes. An
allegation of sexual assault in a men's bathroom
during a game. The criminal case was eventually
dropped due to insufficient evidence and some
witness issues, but a new civil suit was filed
against him in January of 2025. So the legal
battles are not over. And speaking of his behavior,
we can't ignore the bizarre social media stuff.
The online exchange with the musician Azalea
Banks involving photos. Mutual unsolicited photos,
according to the reports at the time. It just
paints a picture of a chaotic, unmoored, and
frankly quite sordid lifestyle. He seems to be
a man without any guardrails at all. So you have
the situation. His reputation is in tatters.
His fighting career is on hold. His business
partners are fleeing. What does Conor McGregor
do? He pivots to politics. And this might be
the most surreal chapter of the entire story.
In late 2023, after a very serious stabbing incident
in Dublin sparked riots, McGregor took to X,
which was formerly Twitter. And what did he say?
He tweeted, Ireland is at war. He started posting
very strong, very inflammatory anti -immigration
sentiments. And he was actually investigated
for incitement to hatred for that, wasn't he?
He was, although it was announced in March 2025
that no charges would ultimately be filed. But
he leaned into it. He seemed to find a new audience,
or at least he thought he did. and he announced
he wanted to run for president of Ireland in
the 2025 election. President McGregor, it sounded
like a skit from Saturday Night Live. What was
his platform? What was he running on? It was
described by political commentators as national
populist, and in some cases, far right. He focused...
almost entirely on anti -immigration rhetoric.
He positioned himself as the strong man, the
defender of the true Irish. But this is where
the notorious echo chamber of social media met
the hard reality of public opinion. The polls.
How did he do? Terribly. He consistently polled
around 7 % or 8%. And crucially, something like
89 % or 90 % of respondents in those polls said
they would not vote for him under any circumstances.
He had high name recognition, of course, but
incredibly high negative ratings. He launched
a petition at one point too, right? Yes. In August
of 2025. He tried to challenge the nomination
rules because he couldn't get the support from
local councils or members of the Oryaktas, the
Irish parliament, that you need to get on the
ballot. And eventually. He withdrew from the
race in September 2025, but not before a very
high profile and very strange moment involving
Donald Trump. The White House visit, March 2025.
St. Patrick's Day. McGregor was invited to the
White House by Trump. It was a bizarre scene.
McGregor stood there and claimed Ireland was
losing its Irishness because of illegal immigration,
essentially using the platform of the White House
to attack the current Irish government. How did
that go down back home in Ireland? Very, very
poorly. The Tysich, the Irish prime minister,
and other leading politicians condemned it. They
called his comments appalling, embarrassing,
and not representative of Ireland. And the irony
of that meeting wasn't lost on people? No. Critics
immediately pointed out the bitter irony of the
visual. Donald Trump and Conor McGregor, two
men who had both been found liable for sexual
assault or abuse in civil courts, shaking hands
in the White House on St. Patrick's Day. It really
feels like he burned the bridge to his home country.
He went from being the hero wrapped in the tricolor
flag at his weigh -ins to being publicly condemned
by the country's leaders. It's the ultimate alienation.
He positioned himself as someone who could lead
the country, but the country essentially told
him, we don't know you anymore. You don't speak
for us. So here we are. It's January 2026. Let's
try and synthesize all of this. We have a man
who, without a doubt, changed MMA forever. He
secured the bag. He created the champ champ status.
But he also leaves this trail of destruction
in his wake. If you look at the whole trajectory,
McGregor is the blueprint for the modern influencer
fighter. He showed that attention, good or bad,
monetizes. He taught a generation of fighters
that being loud is often more profitable than
being good. He's also a warning. He's also a
massive warning label. At the end of the day,
his greatest opponent wasn't Khabib or Poirier
or Mayweather. It was his own inability to handle
the life he built. He had no off switch. The
aggression that made him rich inside the cage
made him a liability outside of it. And the drug
suspension is up in March, just two months away.
So the big question. Will he fight again? He's
eligible. But does he need the money? Probably
not. Although legal bills are certainly expensive.
Does he need the glory? Probably. But the bigger
question is, does the UFC need him? For a long
time, the answer to that was yes, at any cost.
But now. But now. With the sponsors dropping
him, with the civil rape verdict permanently
attached to his name. You might be too toxic
for even them to touch. It's a heavy question.
Can a legacy that was built on being the notorious
survive when the notoriety shifts from being
a rebellious antihero to a pariah in his own
country and the business world? Or has the brand
finally become too toxic to touch? That is the
question. And I think we are watching the answer
play out in real time. The brand might finally
be broken beyond repair. A fascinating, if tragic,
deep dive today. From the plumbing site in Lucan
to... the heights of Madison Square Garden and
down into the courtrooms of Dublin. That is the
story of Conor McGregor. Thanks for listening
to The Deep Dive. Thank you.