Conor McGregor, the bigoted UFC fighter, visited the White Home on St. Patrick’s Day to plead on behalf of Eire.
“Our government has long since abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland, and it’s high time that America is made aware of what is going on,” McGregor stated alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
McGregor went on to assert that rural cities in his residence nation are “overrun” by “illegal immigration racket” and locals have turn out to be “a minority” in “one swoop.”
“Irish-Americans … need to hear this because, if not, there will be no place to come home and visit,” he added.
McGregor has turn out to be a figurehead for the far-right motion in Eire, and his statements appear to echo an analogous sentiment that Trump’s voter base has within the U.S. McGregor can also be well-known for his racist and homophobic remarks.
Nonetheless, Eire’s authorities was fast to say that the Irish don’t share McGregor’s nationalist values. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin took to X to name McGregor’s remarks unsuitable, including that they “do not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.”
The nation’s minister for international affairs additionally addressed the fighter’s go to to the White Home. Chatting with reporters in New York Metropolis, Simon Harris stated that McGregor “shouldn’t be right here in the USA representing Eire or the individuals of Eire. … He would not converse for Eire. He would not converse for the individuals of Eire. He has no mandate to do such.”
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, left, sits with President Donald Trump within the White Home on March 12, 2025.
McGregor’s statements got here forward of his official go to with President Donald Trump, the place he’s anticipated to make his case for the U.S. to assist ultimately.
However as Trump hears out the fighter’s case, simply final week the president received right into a heated change with Martin within the Oval Workplace.
“You took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies,” Trump advised Martin. “This beautiful island of 5 million people has got the entire U.S. pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.”
Trump notably praised McGregor throughout that go to as nicely. McGregor and Trump share a couple of issues in frequent, like their historical past of alleged sexual assault. In 2024, McGregor paid $250,000 to a girl who accused him of raping her in a Dublin resort room in 2018.
McGregor additionally has a hefty string of driving violations, on high of a few different arrests. In 2019, in keeping with police, the fighter stole a fan’s cellphone and stomped on it repeatedly after they tried to take a photograph of him. He additionally made headlines and practically served jail time when he threw a dolly at a tour bus in New York Metropolis.
The president has a historical past of being very sympathetic to UFC fighters and its founder, Dana White.
When White and UFC confronted years of states and politicians banning the fights, Trump opened his now-bankrupt on line casino to the combating group.
However now UFC bros have seemingly taken over the White Home. And whereas on the floor this can be nothing aside from some camaraderie, the rising connection between UFC and far-right ideology has been deepening.
Boxer Jake Paul, left, and wrestler Logan Paul, proper, converse with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, heart, in at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.
Trump’s inauguration visitor record alone had White, McGregor, podcast host and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, fighters and boxers Jon Jones, and Jake and Logan Paul.
Bryce Mitchell, one other UFC fighter who attended the inauguration, praised Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust on his podcast shortly earlier than the occasion. White, nonetheless, didn’t ban Mitchell from UFC, although he did denounce his remarks.
However White, who now serves on the board of administrators at Meta (the dad or mum firm of Fb), is even sympathetic to accused intercourse traffickers Andrew and Tristan Tate. The MMA head honcho welcomed the self-described misogynists to his UFC fights personally in early March, after the brothers had been extradited again from Romania.
“Welcome back to the states, boys,” White stated in a now-viral video.
Whereas the UFC has lengthy been a secure haven for the outrageous, the brutal, and the acute sides of masculinity—it could actually now be seen strolling the hallways of the White Home as nicely.
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