Conor McGregor says he got lost after conquering the UFC at 27 years old and has openly acknowledged mistakes made during his years away from the sport, while describing the ongoing work required to maintain a better version of himself ahead of his UFC 329 return.
McGregor spoke to Paramount ahead of his July 11 rematch with Max Holloway at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fame has its pitfalls. You better move carefully in this world, for sure, probably even more so now. I’ve taken a lot of lessons in my life, and it’s just about self-discovery. Studying yourself. Learning yourself. Learning triggers. I find myself even now still in a fight with an old version of me or old ways that don’t serve me and new ways and a new version of me. I went through some treatment, I done a lot of self-reflective work on myself. Internal work and it was outside of this bubble that we find ourself now when I return to the fight game.
He said returning to the spotlight brought old habits back to the surface.
On my immediate return to this game and the cameras and even this now, I found myself reverting to an old version of me. I had to kind of remind myself, hold on, I just had to reflect again and say I’m different now. I’m a different person. I’ve put in work. It’s easy to fall into old habits. You have to be careful. I’m still in that fight. Competition for me and activity and work helps that for sure. I still have work to do.
McGregor reflected on why the years following his two-division title run went the way they did.
At 27 years of age, I had the game conquered. Two-weight world champion, I had the Floyd bout, boxed off, I was only 27 years of age. I had the game wrapped up in a blink. What more was I to do? I got lost. I got lost in it. Made some mistakes off of that and that’s it. There may be pockets where I would have disrespected and disgraced the position that god put me in. That’s probably accurate. It is accurate in fact. But I for sure love this game.
He framed the ongoing work of self-improvement as a daily commitment.
It’s day-by-day work. Day after day. You’ve got to put it in. The rent is due everyday they say. Life is about balance. If you don’t, you’re one slight wobble from falling off entirely. It’s day by day you work.
