It’s hard to get a gauge on what is going through the mind of Conoc McGregor these days. While there’s no denying that McGregor’s buzz and popularity is still at an all-time high, he has seemed to be on a bit of a downward spiral as of late.
Things seemed to begin in August of 2017 when McGregor lost his first official boxing match to Floyd Mayweather inside of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. McGregor talked a lot of pre-fight trash and despite starting the contest well, he was humbled and stopped in the 10th round.
It was thought that all would be well, as McGregor shifted his focus towards the UFC and a huge showdown vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov. The pre-fight build up to their fight was intense, with McGregor causing headlines in April when he attacked Khabib’s bus, causing much damage.
Khabib gained revenge inside of the ring, dominating McGregor and submitting him in under four rounds. It was a deflating loss for McGregor, who is now on a losing streak both in boxing and mixed martial arts.
And this week things took an even worse turn, when, as reported by various outlets, it was revealed that McGregor was involved in a scuffle in Miami, Florida.
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Turns out that Ahmed Abdirzak, 22, had his phone broken by McGregor around 5 a.m. Abdirzak was in the nightclub Liv with friends when they spotted McGregor and despite being supportive of McGregor, things didn’t end well. McGregor apparently saw that Abdirzak was trying to film him with his phone and decided to approach him. McGregor then took hold of Abdirzak, took the phone, and smashed it.
“I looked into his face and his eyes were bulging,” Abdirzak told DailyMail.com. “He was so angry. I don’t know whether he was drunk or on drugs, but he looked f***ked.
‘It’s got all my personal pictures of my mother and son that I will never be able to get back now.”
McGregor was eventually arrested on Monday and later released on $12,500 bond. A photo later surfaced of himself in the back of a police cruiser, obviously trying to make light of the situation at that time being.
For Abdirzak, this was obviously an emotionally dire situation.
“I’m not going to lie, I was scared for my life,” he said. “The guy is a lethal weapon.
His grip was insane. I could tell he was a professional athlete. I thought he’s going to hit me. I was shocked.”
McGregor is obviously trying his best to put the situation behind him. On his Instagram account he has been very active the past few days, as he has been showing clips of himself with fans while in Miami, while also taking time to promote his whiskey brand Proper No. 12.
What can we make of all of this? Well, for one, this couldn’t have been anything new to McGregor, the sight of someone filming him. When you are a superstar in the sports, everyone, even casual fans, will be eyeing you and often filming you. What’s shocking is just how far McGregor took things.
It can be very stressful when you are a professional athlete who ha ascended to the top of the sports ladder. Sure, the money and fame increases, but that doesn’t erase the day-to-day pressures that one faces. Maybe this was just a case of McGregor cracking under pressure, or maybe he was just caught up in a bad night.
Either way, let’s hope he can even the tide from this point forward.
