Andrew Ravens
Conor McGregor has given his most honest take yet of the years that followed his rise to the top of the UFC, acknowledging that winning the lightweight title at 27 left him directionless and that the mistakes that followed were largely of his own making.
Speaking with Paramount ahead of his return at UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas, McGregor addressed both the professional and personal lows that have defined his time away from the sport.
McGregor became the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion in 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to claim the lightweight title, having already held the featherweight belt. He then moved into boxing, earning a reported $100 million from his fight against Floyd Mayweather. What followed was a lengthy layoff, a lopsided loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018, and a public image increasingly defined by controversy outside the cage.
He has faced multiple civil and criminal allegations in recent years, was found liable in a civil case in an Irish court for a sexual assault allegation dating to 2018, and received an 18-month UFC suspension in 2025 for failing to disclose his whereabouts for drug testing on three occasions.
Conor McGregor: ‘I got lost’
“At 27 years of age, I had the game conquered,” he said. “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. You’ll always come home if you truly love something. You’ll always come home.
“There may be pockets where I would have disrespected and disgraced the position that god put me in. Maybe some fans would see that. Hey he didn’t put in this or he showed no love for the game. That’s probably accurate. It is accurate in fact. But I for sure love this game. It’s my every waking thought is the fight game. I’m excited to come back and showcase it.”
McGregor said he has undergone treatment and done internal work on himself during his time away, but acknowledged that returning to the spotlight immediately tested the progress he had made.
“On my immediate return to this game and the cameras and even this now, I found myself reverting to an old version of me,” he said. “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.
“You have to practice with people, places, and things, protect people, places, and things. Don’t find yourself in similar places that you would have been. I’m still in that fight. Competition for me and activity and work help that for sure. I still have work to do.”
