McGregor has made no secret of his ambition to be President of Ireland – even though there isn’t a prayer of him appearing on the ballot paper
It is Katie Taylor’s misfortune to reign supreme in a sport that craves braggarts, that adores boasting. Media duties are part of professional boxing and Taylor endures her time in front of the cameras, recorders and microphones with gritted teeth. She says little and leans on the same key messages time and again.
Role model are two words that she does lean on particularly heavily. That’s been the case since early on in her amateur days. Sift through her back pages and it’s rare that the words don’t crop up at some point.
“A big part of being a professional athlete is being a role model. It’s a great responsibility and something I take very seriously. I love being a role model for young kids and just being an inspiration to them,” Taylor said in 2019. “There are a lot of bad role models out there and they seem to get a lot of media attention so it’s great to lead this life.”
Now, to many people, Conor McGregor is the textbook example of a bad role model. That was confirmed, in their view, by the verdict of the civil case taken against him by Nikita Hand, and its subsequent appeal.
A few months before that trial, McGregor narrowly avoided a spell in prison for dangerous driving. Judge David McHugh described McGregor’s dangerous driving as “persistent, prolonged and deliberate” when he appeared at Blanchardstown District Court.
McGregor had over 20 previous convictions, mostly for road traffic offences. In 2019, he punched an older man in the head in a Dublin bar, escaping a prison sentence. McGregor paid compensation to the victim and was fined €1000 in court. He has another assault conviction from 2009.
McGregor has also made headlines because of his hardline stance on immigration, and he has been widely criticised for spreading misinformation on this issue.
He has made no secret of his ambition to be President of Ireland – even though there isn’t a prayer of him appearing on the ballot paper. Dustin the Turkey had a better shot at winning the Eurovision than McGregor has of ending up in the Phoenix Park.
On Thursday, McGregor posted a video on Instagram of himself standing outside Government Buildings, giving a brief speech about what he’d do as President. To summarise, he promised to hold a referendum on every decision made by the government. In the history of dumbass political ideas, this is, without question, the GOAT.
There are plenty, though, who still cling to the Cult of McGregor and hundreds of thousands liked and shared the clip. One account that liked the clip was that of Katie Taylor. Of course, liking a social media post doesn’t mean you necessarily agree with it. And many prominent figures have someone else operating their social media accounts, but it is valid to question Taylor’s relationship with McGregor.
On the week of her rematch with Chantelle Cameron in November, 2024, the centre of Dublin city burned with far right activists rioting, exploiting the outrage at a terrible stabbing at a school on Parnell Square.
A post from McGregor on X didn’t calm the mood that week – “Do not let any Irish property be took over unannounced. Evaporate said property. It’s a war.”
There were complaints made to the Gardaí over the post, and McGregor was publicly criticised by the then Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
For both of Taylor’s fights with Cameron, McGregor’s Forged Stout was one of the sponsors of the card in the 3Arena. Before the first fight, McGregor was the focus of much of the DAZN coverage on the night, and he sat beside promoter Eddie Hearn at ringside.
At the pre-fight press conference for the rematch, Hearn was questioned about McGregor’s involvement, with reporters pointing out that McGregor was a deeply divisive figure in Ireland. Hearn dismissed the questions, and was particularly strident in doing so in the post-fight press conference.
Taylor was also asked directly about McGregor’s involvement but Hearn intervened and answered for her.
McGregor and Taylor do have something in common. Both of their fathers are English immigrants in Ireland. Taylor herself is now an Irish immigrant in America.
This writer spent a long time working on a four part podcast series on Taylor and her importance. That we chose the title ‘Untouchable’ for that 2023 series said it all about the esteem in which we hold her.
Arguing over who is Ireland’s greatest sportsperson is pointless as you can’t really compare the skill sets and depth of different sports. But Taylor is undoubtedly the most significant figure in the history of Irish sport. No other Irish person has caused such a shift in the tectonic plates of a global sport.
She is absolutely sincere about her drive to inspire people – young girls and women, in particular – and to be a role model. So the connections to McGregor are bewildering.
Any criticism of Taylor is quickly shouted down. It’s a problem with women’s sport that too many rush to infntilise them, to effectively treat them as children. But Taylor will be 40 on her next birthday. She’s an adult who is coming up to the border crossing of middle age. She has sat in press conferences and heard questioners point out how problematic McGregor is, so ignorance is no excuse.
Taylor can like any social media post she wants. She can sing McGregor’s praises aloud too if she so chooses. That is her right. But it’s equally valid to point out that there are plenty of us who feel that McGregor is the poster boy of ”bad role models”.
Sure, Taylor – like many in combat sports – thinks that McGregor was a fantastic fighter. Few argue that he wasn’t, but there’s more to this dancer than the dance.
McGregor may well be the most famous Irish person in the world. He has appeared in a big budget Hollywood movie alongside Jake Gyllenhall. He has hung out with both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Elon Musk and Russell Brand said he should be President of Ireland. On the Instagram platform alone, McGregor has over 47 million followers. Given all that he’s said and done, you’d have to wonder why. What does it say about them?
Taylor’s last post on Insta references Proverbs 31. A verse that praises ”women of noble character”.
For the way she stood up to McGregor, Nikita Hand fits the bill for many. Her courage and grit was awe inspiring. Now that’s role model stuff.
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