Conor McGregor is loved by many and hated by… just as many people. While his accomplishments in mixed martial arts and his contribution to globalize the sport gets him love, more often than not, he burns through that goodwill with ridiculous statements riddled with unneccesary machismo and bravado. Case in point, the time where he claimed he stopped playing soccer because it was for women.
Now, Ireland is a country known for its crazy love for the beautiful game. It has produced some of the most prolific soccer stars that have ever run across a blade of grass. So naturally, growing up many Irish children pick up the ball and kick it around. But McGregor was better than that.
He was good enough to be a striker who would score for fun every week for the Slieveamon United and Yellowstone Celtic in the United Churches League and Leinster Football League respectively.
When Conor McGregor said football is for women pic.twitter.com/8zXgbHIVqr
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) February 11, 2024
His former manager Robbie Beakhurst even confirmed it when the Irishman had claimed that he was a goal machine. In a report by the Irish Mirror, he is quoted claiming that the Mystic Mac was just that good!
“He was a striker and was our top scorer every year. I took over Yellowstone Celtic and took him with me and again he was scoring for fun on a weekly basis… He was always a bit more interested in MMA, but he would have certainly been one of the fittest on the team.”
So what changed?
Why did McGregor actually stop playing?
McGregor loved fighting. At the time though, it was limited to gyms and training. And the more he developed himself for the sport, the less time he could spend with his team. Beakhurst admitted that McGregor’s affinity for MMA meant he couldn’t show up for training and make it to the games.
“I think he played for a year, maybe two, just before we broke up the Saturday side. The first year he was generally down with us all year, but in the second, you’d be lucky to get him in once a week, because he got more into the MMA.”
Despite this manager and his teammates wanted him to continue kicking a ball and slotting it into the net.
“We told the players the situation, but that we still wanted to play him, and they all took it well, because I think they knew Conor was one of the better players on the team.”
Fortunately things worked out the way they were supposed to and the Irishman went on to become the first globally recognized mixed martial artist in the world with hundreds of millions to his name and multiple UFC titles.
