Here are life lessons we can learn from Conor McGregor!
8 – Bet on yourself
Having a healthy dose of self-confidence in yourself is one of the key things you need
to do if you want to achieve whatever goals you have set out for yourself.
If you don’t believe in yourself – who will?!
Conor McGregor isn’t short on it when it comes to confidence.
In his UFC 189 matchup against Chad Mendes, McGregor was pretty confident in his skills
or better said, confident enough to the tune of $3 million dollars.
According to UFC President Dana White, McGregor wanted to make a bet with him and an co-owner
of the UFC.
Conor offered to put down $3 million dollars that he would finish Mendes early.
Even White himself said that he couldn’t believe how confident McGregor is of his abilities.
Of course, as much as White likes to gamble, the bet wasn’t accepted, as fighters betting
with promoters is a big no-no.
Still, White says McGregor's willingness to do such a thing goes to show the world just
how much confidence he carries around.
While betting with your bosses on a fight is probably a bit unprofessional, there's
no doubt McGregor was dead serious about his prediction.
The event brought in $7.2 million dollars at the gate, which broke the record at the
time for an MMA event in the US.
And yeah, for anyone wondering, McGregor did incredibly win in the second round, meaning
that he would have actually won the money had the bet actually happened!
The best bet you can make in life is always on yourself, because ultimately it’s up
to you whether or not you succeed.
7 – Hard work, not talent
According to Conor McGregor himself, talent doesn’t exist.
Everything is predicated on hard work.
McGregor has stated on more than one occasion that he’s not even remotely talented at
what he does and that his success is because that he’s completely obsessed with his craft,
and he’s where he’s at because he was willing to do whatever it took.
The Irish-born featherweight doesn’t keep a schedule in a traditional sense – in fact,
he hates routines and just trains whenever he feels like it.
Most of the time, he simply wakes up and starts training.
For Conor McGregor, mixed martial arts training starts and ends with control so all of McGregor’s
movements revolve around control of his body, mind, and breath.
On a typical day, McGregor goes to the gym and does a bunch of different exercises that
don’t just involve fighting.
For example, he might do a few rounds of jiu-jitsu, do some pad work, jump some rope, and do core
work.
McGregor also does free-weight exercises such as single-leg barbell deadlifts to build strength
and balance simultaneously.
However he stated that his best asset is his belief in himself and the fact that he has
a stronger mindset than that of his opponents.
McGregor and Mayweather go head-to-head in one of the most anticipated boxing matches
in history on August 26, 2017.
McGregor has been doing his intense training camp at the most technically advanced center
he can get to.
McGregor released a series of pictures on his official Instagram working hard at the
UFC’s Performance Institute in Las Vegas.
There are snaps of him sparring in the ring, recovering in a -278 degree cryotherapy chamber,
and running in an underwater treadmill.
Can McGregor actually shock the world?!
Can he actually cram and ace this intense exam with one of the best boxers ever?!
Vote and let me know!
Can’t wait to see how that fight turns out in the end!
6 – Win the psychological war
Psychological warfare has been around since the dawn of time and it’s one of the oldest
weapons, not to mention one of the most effective weapons in warfare.
Most wars are won before it even begins.
The main goal is to demoralize and break the enemy’s will to fight.
In case you guys didn’t know, McGregor is a master of psychological warfare.
McGregor always engages in trash talk against his opponents, which has led to comparisons
of him to Muhammad Ali, whom McGregor cites as one of his early inspirations.
One example of McGregor playing some tricky games was when he verbally destroyed Chad
Mendez before the fight in interviews.
Mendes said that during their fight, McGregor didn’t stop trash talking the entire time
as well.
Mendes would hit him with everything he had and Conor would say, is that all you got?!
Many of McGregor’s opponents don’t even engage him in any type of trash talk because
because they don’t have as much practice in the psychological warfare as McGregor does.
Another great story is McGregor’s fight with Dustin Poirier(puar-ye), the fight which
propelled Conor McGregor to stardom in the UFC.
Poirier himself spoke about his fight with Conor McGregor and how the mind games really
affected him in the buildup to the fight.
He said that the moment that most messed with his head was when he was getting ready to
walk out and saw McGregor smiling and pointing at him.
The guy he was supposed to fight was just standing there SMILING at him, showing no
fear whatsoever.
5 – Create a spectacle
Apart from being one of the best fighters in the world, McGregor knows exactly how to
turn heads, and he’s definitely not afraid to use his instagram to create a full blown
spectacle.
Because what’s the use of being one of the best fighters in the world, if no one knows
who you are and have no interest in seeing you win or lose?
Fans can catch McGregor posting pictures of himself on Instagram doing everything from
training in a gym, wearing a perfectly fitted three-piece suit, or hanging with the latest
celeb.
Oh yeah, let’s also not forget all the photos of the super cars he’s been whippin around!
Basically, If he’s not fighting, he’s as flashy as he can be, and that can only
be good for business.
Back in April, 2014 he was named Most Stylish Man at the VIP Style Magazine Awards in Ireland.
McGregor has said before that he really enjoys doing two things; whooping a*s and looking
good!
Although being as flashy as possible works for McGregor in his profession, that obviously
doesn’t mean it works for most people.
What does work is for people to make themselves known for what they do best, whether it’s
personal or professional.
Probably one of the best moments EVER in the history of press conferences happened thanks
to McGregor, when he casually combined the worlds of high fashion and trash talking in
a way only he could do.
During one of the press conferences for McGregor’s fight with Floyd Mayweather, McGregor made
a huge splash with the suit that he was wearing.
He told the cameras to zoom in and get a closer look because his suit says f*ck you.
He wasn’t kidding in the slightest because when the cameras did zoom in, each stripe,
sure enough, was made of dozens of little f*ck you’s up and down the suit.
Clearly, it was a brilliant message meant for Mayweather, and anyone else who was close
enough to read it.
4 – Visualize your goals
It’s no secret that hard work made Conor McGregor a world champion in just a few short
years.
However, apart from all the hard work he put into his career, McGregor visualizes his goals
before executing them.
He’s said that if you’re able to clearly focus on the goals you want in your head and
say those exact same things out loud, then your goals WILL happen.
You’ll be nothing less than motivated to execute what you want.
According to McGregor, creating the energy of what you want to experience is just as
important as speaking out loud about the things you want.
Your thoughts are everything – what you think is what you become.
For McGregor, that once meant saying things such as "I am the champion, I am the best
in the world" out loud to himself.
Of course, McGregor IS now one of the world’s best, and is an actual champion, but he had
the heart of a champion before he actually was one in the first place.
We can learn from McGregor to behave and act as if you've already achieved your goal, no
matter where we are.
Success begins first and foremost with our mindset.
What’s actually pretty amazing and weird at the same time is how many times McGregor
has predicted the way his fights are going to end.
McGregor has been labelled as “Mystic Mac” due to his uncanny ability to gaze into his
so-called crystal ball and predict the future.
When he was fighting Jose Aldo, McGregor knew he was going to win right from the start.
Before the opening of the first round, Aldo and McGregor refused to touch gloves.
They went immediately into combat, and it ended with Aldo losing consciousness in mere
seconds – 13 seconds to be exact!!!
The knockout was the fastest finish in UFC title fight history.
3 – Be loyal to those loyal to you
McGregor believes in a lot about loyalty.
He’s tweeted out the fact that loyalty is everything.
McGregor has stayed with the same team for years and so far, refused to leave Ireland
and move to the US.
In true Irish McGregor fashion, even his walkout music is a tribute to his home country.
His music features Sinead(shineed) O’Connor, who’s a famous Irish singer-songwriter.
Apart from showing massive love for his fans and working with the same people, he’s stated
there’s one person in particular who keeps him going – his girlfriend and mother of
his son, Dee Devlin.
McGregor and the 28-year-old Devlin have been together long before his UFC stardom.
The fighter admitted he’s incredibly thankful to his longtime girlfriend for sticking by
him through thick and thin, especially in times when he had absolutely nothing.
In fact, in order to support Conor on the road, Dee quit her job to be able to travel
more.
They’ve been together since 2008 and he hired her on as an official member of his
team, where she currently manages his finances.
Their first child, Conor Jack McGregor Jr., was born on the 5th of May, 2017.
2 – Don’t let your past define you
Conor McGregor was raised in small town called “Crumlin” in the suburbs of South Dublin
and this is where he learned his craft as a MMA fighter in the early days.
He used to get bullied because of him being an easy target because of his shorter and
smaller stature in size growing up.
Bullying is one reason why he grew closer to combat sports growing up.
Later on, although things still didn’t look that promising for those that didn’t know
him.
Conor McGregor had a job as a plumber and just before his first high profile fight in
UFC, he picked up a $180 welfare check because he had to make ends meet.
In February 2007, at the age of 18, McGregor made his MMA debut, in an amateur fight against
Kieran Campbell in Dublin, where he was victorious via TKO in the first round.
Following the fight, he turned professional and was signed by the Irish Cage of Truth
promotion.
Even though he came from humble beginnings, McGregor didn’t let any of his hardships
define who he was.
He’s completely reinvented his life and established himself as the biggest pay-per-view
draw in MMA history.
1 – Never give up
If there’s one thing where McGregor really excels at, then it’s definitely his persistence
– he never, EVER gives up even when going through the most difficult moments in life,
as he’s demonstrated before.
In fact, during a fight against Max Holloway, McGregor ended up tearing his ACL and still
ended up winning the fight.
During the round, McGregor heard and felt a huge pop in his leg, but decided to keep
going.
He realized he was very wobbly on it, but decided to go on because he felt that he could
still win the fight.
Of course, it did affect the way McGregor fought, as his win came from a decision and
not from a KO like McGregor normally delivers.
During the post-fight interview, McGregor admitted that it still felt like a loss to
him since he wasn’t able to deliver a more glorious finish.
Just like when things didn’t look like it was the greatest when he was a plumber on
welfare, McGregor fought on because he believed in himself and believed in his vision.
Here’s what’s next!