Presidential nomination, suspicions of "spreading hatred" and the trilogy with Diaz: McGregor does not let himself be forgotten

Presidential Candidate

It's been almost two and a half years since Conor McGregor last entered the cage. In July 2021, the former UFC two-weight champion broke his leg in his third fight with Dustin Poirier and suffered his second defeat in a row. And although the Irishman has long recovered from a serious injury and has repeatedly talked about his imminent return to the octagon, he has not yet confirmed his words with deeds.

But despite the lack of serious achievements recently, McGregor did not behave less outrageously. For example, the other day he posted a nine-year-old photo of himself in a white suit with the caption: "Ireland, your president."

It seemed that this was just another attempt by McGregor to entertain his followers and attract a little attention to himself. But then the fighter himself decided to develop the topic and began to seriously talk about the prospects in the presidential race. So, he went through the potential "competitors" in the struggle for the post of head of state and told how everything would change if he won the elections.

"Here are my potential contenders if I run: Jerry [Adams] is 78, Bertie [Ahern] is 75 and Enda [Kenny] is 74. Each of them is inextricably linked to the politics of his party. Regardless of how the public feels outside of these parties that serve themselves rather than the people. On the other hand, there is me, I'm 35 years old. Young, active, enthusiastic, a new interested person in this game. I listen, I support, I adapt. I have no partisanship, no bias, no favoritism. These people would indeed be held accountable for the current change in public sentiment. I would even put it to a vote. I would do it every week. I can sponsor it. It would not be me as president, but the people of Ireland. It would be me and you," McGregor wrote.

And although initially it all looked like a joke, over time, many took McGregor's statements seriously. Moreover, one British bookmaker has even started accepting bets on the nomination of an MMA star for the presidency of Ireland. However, they did not believe in the success of the campaign. If the coefficient for his participation in the 2025 elections was 9.0, then the victory is 201.0.

Suspected of "spreading hatred"

At the same time, MacGregor's statements about his readiness to compete for the post of head of state may be related to recent events in Ireland. At the end of November, a wave of riots swept through Dublin after an incident with an attack on children, as a result of which 34 people were detained. In turn, the athlete did not stand aside and in a tough form called on the government to take the situation under control.

"I do not condone yesterday's riots and attacks on our law enforcement officers who were doing their duty. I don't condone looting and damage to stores. What happened last night did nothing to solve the problems we face. But I do understand the discontent and the need for action to start change. And fast! I'm busy organizing. Believe me, I'm much more organized and I have support. Mark my words, Ireland is in for a change, a necessary change. If they don't adopt their plan to secure Ireland soon, I will," MacGregor wrote in X, but then deleted the message.

Nevertheless, the media managed to replicate McGregor's words, and the police became interested in them. An investigation was initiated against the former UFC champion on suspicion of "spreading hatred". However, he himself hastened to assure that he did not associate crime with migrants, but with the government's failures to ensure the safety of citizens. According to him, it is necessary to create a new group to assess people entering the country and deport illegal immigrants and criminals.

However, it is not only politics that McGregor has been busy with in the past two weeks. On December 1, he celebrated the birth of his fourth child, which he spoke about on social networks. The Irishman posted photos from the hospital with a newborn boy and thanked his girlfriend Dee Devlin.

It is noteworthy that in the middle of the month, McGregor visited Saudi Arabia, where he impressed the Russian WBA light heavyweight boxing champion Dmitry Bivol.

"I was able to talk to Manny Pacquiao, Mike Tyson, then someone else... With Conor McGregor and Israel Adesanya... Conor, on the other hand, seemed to be some kind of guy from the neighborhood. He talks so calmly, cheerfully. We exchanged phrases," Bivol admitted in an interview with the World of Boxing YouTube channel.

Future opponent: Diaz or Poirier

At the same time, McGregor continues to promote his next, 29th fight in mixed martial arts, which may take place next year. In any case, the head of the UFC, Dana White, is sure of this. According to him, the fight with the participation of Conor will take place in 2024 with a 100% probability, and the opponent will be none other than Michael Chandler. Together with the American, they acted as coaches as part of the 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter.

However, there are rumors in the sports community that the lack of official information about the upcoming duel may indicate an attempt by the UFC to arrange a larger battle for one of its main stars. For example, with the same Poirier, which McGregor himself spoke about a couple of weeks ago. In his opinion, their history of confrontation is not over yet, and the fourth meeting in the octagon is necessary.

A similar opinion is shared by Poirier himself, who has recently alternated victories and defeats. In two years, he managed to lose ahead of schedule to Charles Oliveira in the fight for the lightweight title, after which he strangled the same Chandler and returned to the championship race. But when he was one step away from the status of a contender, he was brutally beaten by Justin Gaethje in a rematch and missed the opportunity to measure his strength with Islam Makhachev.

And it is not surprising that in this situation, Poirier expressed his readiness to fight McGregor again. Let him see no reason to hold this fight, he is ready to meet him again in the cage and dot all the "i's" in their protracted face-to-face duel. Fortunately, for participation in it, he can receive a fabulous fee, incommensurate with his earnings in recent battles.

However, the UFC leadership may well have other options. In any case, this is the opinion of the former opponent of the Irishman Eddie Alvarez, according to whom the management of the promotion may well conduct secret negotiations with Nate Diaz about holding another fight with McGregor.

Previously, McGregor and Diaz had two showdowns in the cage. In March 2016, the American sensationally "strangled" the Irishman in the second round and inflicted his first defeat in the UFC, but in August he closed it, gaining the upper hand by unanimous decision. And according to Tapology, that tournament is still the third most profitable in the history of the league. And according to Alvarez, it would be foolish not to try to arrange a third fight between Conor and Nate, because he may well if not set a record for the number of pay-per-view (PPV) sales, then at least be among the leaders in this indicator.