Despite topping the world’s highest-paid athletes list four years ago, it was not a glamorous life for Conor McGregor before his stunning UFC exploits.
McGregor, a former two-weight champion in the promotion, since 2021. His last bout was at UFC 264, which saw him break his leg and get carried out of the cage. But that same year, he reportedly earned $22 million for his role in the fight with Poirier, while his whiskey business truly paid off.
He ditched the Proper Number Twelve Irish Whiskey majority ownership in the same year, scooping a whopping $158 million in the process. The Crumlin striker would beat out Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Formula 1 icon, Lewis Hamilton.
However, he wasn’t always rich enough to bet $500k on a losing cause (Chandler vs Pimblett at UFC 314) and not even be bothered by it. Speaking to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, McGregor has now revealed his beginings as a plumber.
“I didn’t go to college,” McGregor said. “I went into an apprenticeship. “It’s either, you get a job, you go to college. Or, you get an apprenticeship. I got an apprenticeship as a plumber on an industrial site.”
Notably, this is something McGregor has spoken about before. In 2016, a year before the Floyd Mayweather fight made him a multi-millionaire, the Irishman showed up on Conan O’Brien’s show and discussed his life as a handyman.
McGregor’s life as a plumber
Conan began the conversation by talking about a social media post McGregot put out, claiming that there was no talent and everything he had done by that time was because he was simply obsessed with fighting.
McGregor then joked that he certainly didn’t feel that way when he was on cold, dark sites, working as a plumber.
“If you are passionate about that, that’s okay but for me, that was not a life I wanted to live“, he admitted.
“I remember during a lunch break, I was in a car park and it was pi**ing rain, there was some music playing, they weren’t even words… there was some beat and I got real. I went somewhere and I was like, I am out of here“, he recalled.
His parents weren’t particularly pleased with the decision at the time, but the Irishman managed to convince them to let him pursue combat sports full time.
At the time, his parents didn’t support the decision, primarily because no Irishman had done what he wanted to do. And secondly, he was barely making a living as it is. He even had to get a loan to purchase the plumbing tools he was going to work with- a loan he would only pay much later in life.
McGregor took 15 years to repay loan
A young prospect at the Crumlin boxing club, McGregor had to ask his coach, Bra Brady, for tools to the tune of $80.
“I’m a plumber all my life, retired now, but Conor wanted to be a plumber,” Brady told SunSport. “So when he started off, he was 16, I said I’ll get him his tools. I knew a fella that worked in the trade that could get the tools for cheap”, he added.
“I’d get him the tools, and he can pay me back week by week because he used to be at the [boxing] club,” He added.
“‘I said, ‘You got them?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll pay ya back.’ But, he never did”, Brady joked.
“It was 15 years later he paid me back, that’s when he wanted to get on the show“, he noted, adding that McGregor also gave the club a few things like a new rung, tracksuits, and such.
Although he is happy for the support, Brady is still waiting on the $80 quid he had paid Conor.
