10 Influences That Molded Conor McGregor Into MMA’s Biggest Star
Conor McGregor’s meteoric rise to superstardom is unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed before in the sport of mixed martial arts. With his larger-than-life personality, innate charisma and quick wit, McGregor quickly drew people’s attention when he signed for the UFC in 2013.
However, it was the fact that he was able to back up his talk with spectacular action in the Octagon that truly marked him out as something special, leading to fame and fortune as the UFC’s first ever simultaneous two-division champion and their biggest ever pay-per-view draw.
A star of this magnitude wasn’t born overnight though and there’s more to ‘The Notorious’ Irishman than just natural punching power and the gift of the gab. His unflappable self-belief, his willingness to take chances others won’t, his ability to stay calm and clinical in the heat of the battle and his surprisingly cerebral approach to studying the fight game have all played a part in getting to this stage in his career.
In the pages that follow, we’ll take a revealing look at some of the people, places and philosophies that have had influenced McGregor over the years, and helped mold him into MMA’s biggest star.
Bruce Lee
You’d be hard pushed to find an MMA fighter who hasn’t been influenced by the late, great martial arts icon, Bruce Lee, and Conor McGregor is no different.
Not just a movie legend, Lee was a true student of all aspects of fighting, even creating his own unique martial art, Jeet Kune Do, which he described as “the style of no style.”
Lee’s open-minded, all-inclusive philosophy has led to some hailing him as one of the founding fathers of mixed martial arts, which wouldn’t become a reality until many years after his death, and McGregor is among those who have come to recognise him as a pioneer.
”His philosophy, his belief that there were no styles,” McGregor told UFC.com when asked how Lee had influenced him. “If you were specialized in one style, you were a rookie in 10 other styles. He was formless. He adapted to everything. There was not one set pattern, movement or routine. He was ahead of the curve.”
Lee’s influence on McGregor’s own fighting philosophy is easy to recognise, such as prior to his fight with Jose Aldo when he stated that, “I’ll enter the contest formless and fearless,” and told reporters that he visualized his opponents as being just “a blank face with a different body type.””
John Kavanagh
Without his longtime coach John Kavanagh, it’s quite possible that McGregor wouldn’t have made it in the fight game, let along have become the global superstar that he is today.
That’s not hyperbole. McGregor himself has admitted as much, once stating that, “If he didn’t keep reeling me back in, or allowing me back in, I wouldn’t be here.”
Kavanagh is something of a martial arts pioneer in his native Ireland and he began training McGregor at his Straight Blast Gym (SBG) when he was just 16 years old.
A well-documented story that emphasises Kavanagh’s influence in the young fighter’s career occurred at a time when McGregor’s life appeared to be going off the rails, abandoning his training and starting to get in with the wrong crowd after losing his third professional fight.
Becoming concerned for her son’s future, McGregor’s mother pleaded with Kavanagh to help get his life back on track, and he did just that, visiting the fighter at his home and convincing him not to give up on his career.
McGregor returned to the gym and the rest is history, with Kavanagh remaining by his side to this very day.
“Genius, an absolute genius,” McGregor stated at a fan Q&A in 2017 when asked to describe his coach. “When it comes to unarmed combat in its purest form, that man is a f**kin’ genius. Say what you want, that man knows what he’s talking about. He created me.”
The Law Of Attraction
Conor McGregor has often credited ‘The Law Of Attraction’ as having had a big impact in the way he lives his life.
McGregor was first introduced to the philosophy by his older sister, Erin McGregor, a competitive bodybuilder and fitness model, who had become fascinated by a book on the subject by Rhonda Byrne called ‘The Secret.’
Though initially skeptical, the young McGregor ended up watching a DVD version of the book and something about the power of positive thinking clicked with him.
McGregor and his longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin began adopting this approach, first focusing on willing small things to happen like getting the parking space they wanted at the local supermarket, but then starting to apply it to bigger aspirations like becoming a UFC champion.
The superstar’s own family saw a change in him after that as he became more confident and outspoken about what he wanted to achieve, and in the years since his unbreakable self-belief has become one of his greatest assets on his way to becoming a sporting icon.
Muhammad Ali
Like Bruce Lee, all-time boxing great Muhammad Ali is another man that everyone in combat sports, including Conor McGregor, look up to.
”I admired his evasive skills,” McGregor told UFC.com. “He was the best defensive fighter ever. You could not hit him. Add that to his confidence, his beliefs, whatever he felt was right was right. I admire someone who believes in himself and believes in his ability and backs it up.”
It’s been suggested by some, including former UFC boss Lorenzo Fertitta, that in some respects McGregor is essentially the Muhammad Ali of Mixed Martial Arts, given his ability to back up his words with action inside the Octagon, but while undeniably flattering, it’s something the Irishman is keen to play down.
”It’s a comparison that’s been thrown at me a few times but I cannot accept a comparison like that,” McGregor said at the UFC 196 pre-fight press conference. “For me obviously Muhammad Ali was probably my first combat sports star that I looked up to.
“I had never seen anything like that and I was fascinated by him growing up but I’ve been shaped by many people. Muhammad Ali’s a special man, he’s done things that are unthinkable. He changed culture period.”
Lorenzo And Frank Fertitta
While at times McGregor has been at loggerheads with the UFC, he’s always been vocal about his admiration for it’s ex-owners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who sold the company for $4.2 billion last summer.
It’s well known that it became something of a tradition to toast good business with the Fertitta brothers backstage after his UFC victories, and spending time with the Station Casinos owners has clearly had a big impact on the fighter, not just in the way he approaches his own entrepreneurial endeavors, but in other aspects of life too.
“”Listen, they are dons, they run Las Vegas,” McGregor told Ariel Helwani at a Q&A in January 2017.
“They are inspirations of mine. They way they handle the family heritage. The way they carry themselves. Like, I’ve spent a lot of time with them, a good bit of time and I learned how important family is and how important those close to them are.
“These are all things I’m trying to learn as I grow and carry on in this journey. You start to realize what’s important and what’s not important.”
Rickson Gracie
As the winner of the first ever UFC back in 1993, Royce Gracie inspired just about every MMA fighter who has come since, but it turns out that it’s actually his half-brother Rickson Gracie that had a greater impact on Conor McGregor.
Rickson Gracie was the famous jiu-jitsu family’s first choice to compete at the UFC 1 tournament, but an internal dispute led to Royce getting the nod instead.
Rickson would go on to compile an 11-0 MMA record before retiring, and due to his claim of also being undefeated in grappling tournaments as well it led to the revered Brazilian ace carrying an air of mystique in the combat sports world, with many believing he was the greatest fighter ever to come from the family.
There’s no doubt that Rickson has proven to be an innovative, forward-thinker, as shown in his seminal 1990’s documentary, ‘Choke,’ in which he is shown putting a significant emphasis on movement and breathing during his training, and that struck a chord with McGregor.
”I think Rickson Gracie is another [person who influenced me] because of his understanding of the body and his focus on breathing technique,” McGregor told UFC.com.
“Breathing is an overlooked aspect of the game. If you can control your breathing, you can control anything. And Rickson was a pioneer of that.
Dee Devlin
One person who has been with Conor McGregor every step of the way during his fight career is his longtime girlfriend, Dee Devlin.
The pair first met at an Irish nightclub in 2008 and they’ve been inseparable ever since.
Back then nobody knew who the 20-year-old McGregor was. At the time he was unemployed, still living with his parents, and only making £1500 a year from fighting, yet Devlin stayed loyal to McGregor and never doubted him.
”Everyday, since I started out in this game, she’s supported me,” McGregor told the Irish Mirror.
“She’d drive me to the gym, and she’d listen to all my dreams. Dee is a lifesaver for me. I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for her, and that’s for sure. I’m doing all of this for her.”
The couple are now expecting their first child and McGregor has shown his devotion to his longtime partner by taking an extended break from fighting in the Octagon so that she doesn’t undergo any unnecessary stress in the lead-up to the birth.
Tom Egan / UFC 93
A major source of motivation for Conor McGregor early in his career was watching his teammate Tom Egan become the first Irishman to ever compete in the Octagon.
Making the occasion all the more special, McGregor was actually one of the nearly 10,000 people in the O2 arena that night at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland in January of 2009.
Like McGregor, Egan was part of the SBG fight team and after compiling a 4-0 start to his career the UFC offering him a featured preliminary fight with John Hathaway.
The 20-year-old Egan would suffer a first round TKO loss on the night, but he was still hailed a hero in his homeland for having finally broken down a barrier and shown other young, up and coming Irish fighters like McGregor that it was possible that they too could one day fulfill their dreams of competing in the UFC.
”When I sat here in this crowd at UFC 93 and saw these guys I realized, ‘it’s there, it’s there for the taking if I put the time in.’” McGregor recalled five years later in an interview with MMAfighting’s Ariel Helwani at the same arena.
“That’s when I upped that focus a little bit, upped that intensity and made it happen.”
Ido Portal
Having coaches for different disciplines like boxing, muay thai, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu is common in MMA, but Conor McGregor pushed the boundaries further when he brought in Israeli movement specialist Ido Portal as an important component of his fight camps.
McGregor has long talked about his fascination with movement, and that’s something he holds in common with Portal, who’s devoted his life to studying and teaching it.
”I study all types of movement,” McGregor once told The Daily Mail. “I just like the way the body moves.
“I like looking at people who have complete freedom of movement and complete control of their frame. I feel it is to do with more than their body, I feel it is something in their mind as well.
”I’m fascinated by it so I study all forms of movement, animals because they are graceful and beautiful, I just enjoy movement as a whole.”
It later emerged that one person that McGregor had been studying closely was Portal, and that led to him being invited to work with the fighter one-to-one.
”Conor has been following me for a while actually and looking at my videos and studying from afar and listening to some of the interviews and ideas, implementing it into his work,” Portal told MMAMania in 2015.
Prior to McGregor’s fight with Jose Aldo at UFC 194, Portal featured heavily in footage of the Irish star’s training regime, doing unconventional movement drills.
Some have doubted the benefits of this out-of-the-box approach to preparing for a fight, but McGregor appears to be convinced its had a positive effect as Portal has been a part of all his training camps since.
His Irish Roots
From the very beginning of his UFC career McGregor has worn his heart on his sleeve when it comes to his love for his homeland, and the support of the Irish fans has clearly been a constant source of strength and motivation for him.
”We’re not just here to take part….we’re here to take over,” McGregor famously told his adoring hometown fans after defeating Diego Brandao at the O2 arena in Dublin in 2014.
Later that same year he delivered another memorable quote after droves of supporters from the Emerald Isle made their way to Las Vegas to watch McGregor defeat Dustin Poirier at UFC 178.
“I wanted to come over here to America and show the American public the new era of the fighting Irish, and I brought my whole country with me.
”If one of us goes to war, we all go to war!”
Frequently seen draped in an Irish flag both prior to and following his fights, McGregor also walks out to the song, ‘The Foggy Dew’ by one of his countries most celebrated singers, Sinead O’ Connor.
Based on an historic Irish ballad, McGregor once described the song as “go to war music,” and even convinced Dana White to break with tradition and have O’ Connor sing it live during his walkout at UFC 189 in 2015.
Despite now being a multimillionaire, selling out arenas under the bright lights of Las Vegas and New York, McGregor still remains true to his Irish roots by continuing to live in his home country, while an unfulfilled dream remains to headline a show at the 82,000-seat capacity Croke Park stadium in Dublin.
