Conor McGregor reflects on hitting 'rock bottom' in the troubled years since last UFC fight

Some thought Conor McGregor may never compete again after his last fight. Five years later, the Irishman is ready to return against Max Holloway at UFC 329 on July 11.

Throughout the layoff, McGregor, 37, recovered from a gruesome broken leg suffered in his last fight — a first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021 — and experienced several legal troubles, including a high-profile Irish civil trial where he was found liable for the 2018 sexual assault of Nikita Hand. Speaking in-studio Tuesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” McGregor said he has no regrets about the way his journey has unfolded.

“God knows my heart and the things that I’ve gone through. I’m a young man, I came into all this, I forgive myself for what I — I forgive myself for disgracing the position that God put me in, which I’ve done many times, and I won’t do it again,” McGregor told Uncrowned. “And that’s where I’m at today. I don’t have regrets. I’m happy and thankful for the lessons that I learned on the way.”

McGregor doesn’t need to fight again. A former two-division UFC champion, the Irishman remains the biggest mainstream star MMA has ever produced, and also holds a career earnings that far outpaces any other fighter in the sport’s history. Yet all that success also gave way to a life of excess and recklessness, McGregor acknowledged.

He described his current situation akin to “being on a tightrope,” one in which McGregor struggles on a day-to-day basis to fight off the demons he once embraced.

“Money isn’t the end-all, be-all. It’s not life, get me?” McGregor said.

“I’ve done the Forbes [highest-paid athletes] list, I won the Forbes list. You won’t see me on it again. I won’t register to go on it again. Look what it brought to me. Still, even now, I can feel it somewhere. ‘Oh, he’s back.’ This is coming in, and I just — there’s forces. They’re trying to get their claws on you in this life. And I don’t want to give it energy. I don’t want to give it life. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m not mad on discussing finances and things [anymore]. Keep myself modest. That’s how I live my life.

“A lot of self-internal work [has been done]. I’ve got a lot of people behind the scenes to help me. A lot of discussions. And again, it’s ongoing,” McGregor continued. “The rent is due every day. It’s like training — you have to train for a fight. You have to train your discipline, you have to train your skill set. It’s the same thing. Only it’s akin to being on a tightrope, and the tightrope is going across this office, across to the next office, with a very high fall. The stakes are very high. So you better stay balanced, because … sometimes when you’re down in a place, you don’t feel anything else. You have no emotion. You’re just reckless, you’re going. You don’t pay no attention to nothing.

“And then eventually, most people, they must put that work in on themselves and get themselves back into a steady state of living. That is the time where the rope is even thinner, you get me? The balance — you need to be even more balanced, because the fall is even higher then. If you fall when you’re in this position, you don’t give a f*** — you might even do it just to do it. So I’m in the state now where I’m keeping my balance and making my way to life, and God is helping me with that. That’s it.”

McGregor said he’s leaned heavily on his religion throughout his latest comeback.

He also acknowledged that he reached “rock bottom” at a point over the past five years.

“I am a religious man,” McGregor said. “I was raised Catholic by my mother and my family. We’re a religious family. It takes a deeper meaning when you hit rock bottom and there’s nothing else there but God. And then, just the divine coincidence is everything — I keep seeing it. I keep being shown it, and I’m going all in on it.

“There were a few dark moments. But I relished the opportunity to show my strength. I was put in a position to showcase my strength. So I stood up and showed it, and that’s what I’ve done. A few dark moments, I’m through them, I’m in the light, I’m walking the tightrope and I’m keeping my balance. And please, God, I [pray I] keep it.

“People don’t understand the darkness of being in that situation with that injury. It ain’t easy. So I’m very happy that I’m f***ing through it.”

When McGregor faces Holloway, he’ll look to return to the win column for the first time since his 40-second TKO of Donald Cerrone in 2020, and snap a two-fight losing skid.

McGregor defeated Holloway in their first fight via unanimous decision when they fought at UFC Boston in August 2013.

The former two-division champion told Uncrowned on Tuesday that he already has his next fight after Holloway tentatively booked for April 2027, after which McGregor’s UFC deal will be over and he could potentially enter into the free agency market.