Digtal Phablet – Conor McGregor announces a shocking bid for the presidency despite ongoing controversies and scandals.
Donald Trump makes first public appearance after death rumors with granddaughter and celebrity friendIn recent years, Conor McGregor has transitioned from making headlines in the Ultimate Fighting Championship to facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Now, he’s expressing interest in Ireland’s highest office — the presidency.
The 37-year-old, who has gained notoriety among right-wing circles and aligned himself with U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as promoted anti-immigration sentiments to his large social media following of over 46 million on Instagram and 10 million on X, needs to secure support before the September 24 deadline — a minimum of 20 endorsements from Ireland’s 234 members of the Oireachtas or four out of 31 local councils — to be a candidate.
On September 4, McGregor took to social media, urging his supporters to reach out to their local representatives to get him nominated.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented rise in homelessness among Irish children, which proves this government’s failure to honor our declaration that every child in Ireland should be cherished. Instead, our children are being abandoned,” McGregor said in a video outside the Dublin Department of the Taoiseach. “This reckless neglect of future generations is occurring alongside an influx of mass migration that has overwhelmed our system.”
“If you want to see my name on the presidential ballot, I strongly encourage you to contact your local county councillors today and ask them to support my candidacy,” he added. Self-described as a “master of martial combat” and a “solution-oriented man,” McGregor emphasized his readiness to serve the country.
Conor McGregor (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
The Irish presidency is largely ceremonial, elected directly every seven years. Any citizen over 35 is eligible to run. So far, only two candidates have confirmed their bids to succeed the outgoing President Michael D. Higgins, a popular leftist who has been in office since 2011. Voting takes place on October 24.
McGregor, renowned as one of the UFC’s most prominent fighters, became the first to hold two championship belts simultaneously in November 2016. With a professional record of 22 wins and 6 losses, he was the world’s highest-paid athlete in 2021. However, he has abstained from UFC fights since then following consecutive losses and a string of accusations of abuse.
In December 2024, a Dublin jury found McGregor civilly liable for assault and battery, ordering him to pay nearly 250,000 euros after a civil suit filed by Nikita Hand, who accused him and James Lawrence of raping her in 2018. His appeal was dismissed in July 2025. Additionally, in January 2024, another woman filed a civil lawsuit in Florida alleging sexual assault during the 2023 NBA finals. McGregor has also pleaded guilty to assault in 2019 for punching a senior man in a Dublin pub and received a two-year driving ban in Ireland for multiple violations in 2022.
McGregor started openly sharing anti-immigration and anti-asylum seeker views in 2022, coinciding with a decline in his fighting career and the rise of far-right ethno-nationalism in Ireland. He has frequently invoked one of his UFC slogans, “If one of us goes to war, we all go to war,” in his anti-immigration commentary, including a November 22, 2023, post that declared, “Ireland, we are at war.” Members of Ireland’s far-right have promoted McGregor as a figurehead for their movement.
“When he first gained fame in 2012, he attracted attention by acting like a clown—and the public embraced him,” said sports journalist Ewan MacKenna, author of “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: The Life and Crimes of Conor McGregor,” in an interview with CNN last year. “He tends to become whatever his crowd wants him to be and molds himself accordingly for maximum attention, which is similar in politics.”
McGregor initially announced his presidential bid in March, following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day.
