Why Conor McGregor is disliked in Ireland, huge hype for UFC 329 match vs Max Holloway, comeback from rock bottom, latest news

So there’s a street in the Irish city of Derry where, this week, perched up on the pavement just outside a greeting card store, you’ll find a sign showing Max Holloway draped in an Irish flag.

Then beneath it, the words: Do Us Proud.

UFC 329: McGregor v Holloway 2 | SUN 12 JULY 11AM AEST | Conor McGregor is back. The Irish superstar takes on the always dangerous Max Holloway in a rematch 13 years in the making. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.

And in lettering so bold as to make the message undeniable.

Which is no small thing, right?

Understanding that when it comes to fightin’ Irish megastar Conor McGregor, the man for whom, undeniably, this sign is aimed … well, they’re talking about Sunday’s Octagon return outdoing even UFC White House numbers.

That, and creating a UFC record gate of $20 million.

Which is some number, even for a bloke who owns a $5 million Lamborghini yacht.

Or only a week back, was wowing ‘em on Jimmy Fallon.

Although for that interview too, there was also more than a little backlash.

And still not enough gnashing of teeth to have stopped, say, T-Mobile Arena selling out.

Which is exactly what has happened for McGregor’s hyped return at UFC 329.

Officially, he is back against Holloway.

But really, you could’ve put the tattooed tyro in against a potted fern and still sold out.

Nosebleed tickets worth two grand? Yep, they’re gone.

Same deal all those VIP packages costing upwards of 25 large.

And all this before the small matter of McGregor, aka the most recognised MMA fighter who ever lived, having only one win since 2017.

That, and almost a decade before counting them on two fingers.

Yet even some five years removed from his last UFC appearance against Dustin Poirier – which, you likely recall, also ended via devastating leg injury – McGregor is now finally making a return as incredibly complicated as it is anticipated.

Once, Mystic Mac was among the greatest feel-good stories in sports.

You know, the fighting Irishman who rose up from among social welfare lines.

A kid who took on the world – and won.

The Battler’s Prince.

But more recently?

Well, things have taken an undeniable turn.

With so much of McGregor’s bruising, more recently, having come from outside the cage.

Yet still, find us a fight fan anywhere on planet earth who doesn’t know he’s back.

Even at age 37. And on that leg surgeons initially feared so wrecked he would forever limp.

Which makes this both the story we know, and a different one entirely.

Understanding that while the man may have changed, one undeniable truth remains – people care enough to watch.

And it’s because while McGregor may have been AWOL for years from the cage, he’s still remained in essence Captain Everywhere … appearing not only in Roadhouse remakes, or on pub CCTV, but in bare-knuckle pressers, courtroom dramas, even talk of a run for Irish presidency.

Elsewhere, and since hitting his undeniable peak in 2017 – in those last, incredible hours before a $30M boxing crossover against Floyd Mayweather – McGregor has continually seemed like a man intent on proving his fight moniker of ‘Notorious’.

Think embarking on a publicised run of headlines that’s included everything from driving violations, sexual assault allegations and addiction, through to hurling insults, metal dollys, even a left hook into that geezer who refused a shot of his Proper Twelve whiskey.

Then finally, and only two years ago, enduring an incredibly high-profile civil case; where a jury found McGregor liable for the 2018 sexual assault of Nikita Hand.

So while an army of 10,000 raucous Irishmen once shadowed this man into Las Vegas shows – a drinking, chanting swirl painted emerald green – now there are signs like that one in a Derry backstreet.

Or as Irish fight writer Petesy Carroll put it this week, a country where opinion of McGregor “has gone all the way down”.

Despite having covered McGregor longer than any other scribe alive, and once being commissioned to write his book, Carroll no longer speaks with the most famous athlete his country has produced.

Yet speaking on Australia’s popular Submission Radio program, the longtime podcaster and journalist suggested McGregor is effectively persona non grata in the country where he so famously rose up from the unemployment lines.

“Right now, we’re in a situation where Irish people, you know, they have a lot of disdain for the guy,” Carroll explained. “Obviously I’m doing broad brushstrokes here, and there’s still a lot of people that like Conor.

“But the feeling I’m getting over here is a large amount of disdain …”

Elsewhere, Holloway was also asked to discuss that Derry sign – which has recently gone viral on social media – during an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

“I retweeted it,” Holloway grinned. “Had some fun poking the bear. I don’t know if it’s real, everything is AI now, but if it is then shout out to that owner because that’s kinda crazy.

“You got some balls on you to do that. It’s awesome. [And] a lot of Ireland fans feel that way. I feel like I have the support of Ireland.”

And yet, come fight week, you just know even a legend like Holloway will effectively become background noise to all things McGregor.

Especially at a time when the UFC is not only accused of lacking stars, but has some of its biggest names – think Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira, even Paddy Pimblett – coming off the toughest of losses.

Yet where once McGregor tore strips from opponents to hype fights, this build has seen him largely tackle that fella who has always been his greatest adversary – himself.

“I forgive myself for disgracing the position that God put me in,” McGregor said on the Ariel Helwani Show recently. “When you hit rock bottom, and there’s nothing else there but God … then, a divine coincidence is just everything … I keep being shown it, and I’m going all in on it.”

Undeniably, a large chunk of McGregor fans are going all in with him.

Sure, there will be younger fans tuning in Sunday after having known this UFC ‘Champ Champ’ almost exclusively via YouTube clips, while plenty more appear willing to forgive his previous sins, alleged or otherwise.

Then there are those who now despise the man McGregor has become. A chunk of whom will be tuning in too … if only to see Holloway point down and do his thing.

Speaking on Just Scrap Radio this week, UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer marvelled at the appeal of a man who, you reckon, could truly be billed against that broomstick and still ensure the ‘Full House’ sign goes up.

“It’s amazing,” Buffer oozed. “He still holds that draw. Still holds that appeal, still holds that excitement.

“It’s why the tickets sold out in minutes. It’s why they are getting scalped for God knows how much money. There’s a prediction that even the number of eyeballs on the White House could be surpassed …”

Elsewhere, McGregor’s old Crumlin Boxing coach, Phil Sutcliffe, has also used the UFC 329 Countdown show to heap praise on a fella whose $200 million fortune, he says, goes on more than one of the most hyped car garages in world sport.

“We had him here since he was 10 years of age,” Sutcliffe says of his former charge. “He’s the martial arts Muhammad Ali, his fame is everywhere, but he still wants to support the community.

“Conor is one of the most generous men around.

“He walks in here cocky as hell, still the same, but he is proud when he walks in here. This is where he came from. He shoots and boots us up every year.

“The ring behind me, he bought. He’s supposed to be building up two storeys, making the gym bigger. He does so many good things. If you’re around him, you just want him to do good. He does good, we all do good. That’s what he wants. That’s the type of person he is.”

And the countless others who think that way of McGregor, well, they will be watching too.

Same as when the superstar’s current UFC contract is up, those same eyeballs will follow along as the Irishman looks to squeeze a couple more huge paydays, in boxing maybe, from those remaining fistic years.

Speaking on that same Ariel Helwani episode recently, McGregor suggested billionaire Saudi promoter Turki Al-Sheikh tabled a $200 million crossover offer for two fights between himself and Terence Crawford – only for the retired US great to decline.

Crawford, meanwhile, has since described it as “crap”.

And so, we wait for Sunday.

With so many McGregor fans convinced their man is readying, again, to swim with sharks.

While his critics? Well, they think the Irishman is simply trying to jump one.

Asked about all this recently, longtime CBS combat journalist Brian Campbell said that while we know McGregor “can talk people into the seats to see him fight, what does he still have left? I don’t know that answer.”

Nobody does.

Call it one more reason they can’t look away.