In an Extraordinary Interview, Conor McGregor Has Revealed to Ariel Helwani His Feelings About Hitting the Old Man Back in April And How He Feels About the Future…
Conor McGregor has had a rough few weeks in the public eye. He’s been criticised and condemned like never before in his career after footage of him punching an old man went viral. The actual incident took place in April but TMZ released the footage last week and it seized the imagination of the public.
The problem for the McGregor is that he’s been testing the patience of his fans for a while now. People in his native Ireland are increasingly disgusted by the fact he’s their most famous countryman and continuously bringing the country into disrepute. Meanwhile, the fact he’s fought once in MMA over the last three years hasn’t helped either.
Now he’s spoken to Ariel Helwani on ESPN in an extraordinary interview that revealed his feelings about the incident in April.
Alert: My entire interview with @TheNotoriousMMA airs TONIGHT on ESPN2 at 8 pm et / 5 pm pt. We discuss the recent bar incident, his string of controversies, his injured hand, his return, Diaz, Khabib and so much more. One hour, unedited with Conor McGregor. Tonight! pic.twitter.com/4QyYIBGlvN
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 22, 2019
Extraordinary
The interview was extraordinary because of the clear emotion present in McGregor’s face. You could sense that the remorse he felt was genuine and that whatever has been going on in his life he is now trying to fix. He told Helwani:
“In reality it doesn’t matter what happened. I was in the wrong. That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without it ending the way it did. And although it was five months ago and I tried to make amends and I made amends back then, it’s still – that doesn’t even matter.
“I was in the wrong. I must come here before you and take accountability and take responsibility. I owe it to the people that have been supporting me. I owe it to my mother, my father, my family. I owe it to the people who trained me in martial arts.”
The entire interview will air very soon. Don’t worry. More on that in a bit. For now, I will just say it was a very apologetic, humble and motivated McGregor. Been a while since I’ve seen and heard him like this. I think you guys will enjoy it. More in a bit.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 22, 2019
Wrong Path
“That’s not who I am. That’s not the reason I got into martial arts or studying combat. The reason I got into it was to defend against that type of scenario. So to see that – months ago – although I have been making steps, continually making steps to do better and be better, to see it, it’s like a dagger into my heart as a young martial artist.
“I’m just here to own up to that and move on, carry on and face what’s coming with it.”
Public Image
In a long interview with Helwani, McGregor revealed that he had also broken an arm and a leg in training before the Khabib fight. The whole interview had not been released at the time of writing this article. It’s clear though that McGregor cares a lot about his public image.
Being hated is bad for business.
