Breaking the Limits of the Working Mind | How Conor McGregor Engineered His Rise from Nothing

When I was a kid, I used to always visualize stadiums. And like, even when I was playing football, I'd kick the ball against the wall and I'd pretend I scored a goal and I'd run off and I'd be raising my hand and visualizing an arena full of fans. And that was something I'd done as a kid out on my own. I like, just running around kicking the ball. I always had these visions of something, but I just didn't know what it was. And then I suppose when I came to these events and I started training and then came to an event, I was like, okay, this is it. This is what I'm gonna do. And then now I'm doing it.

Did you ever have, let's call it a normal job, Conor, a 9 to 5? Yeah, 'cause the Irish thing is to get into a trade straight away. I was no different. As soon as I finished school, I was always getting pestered, what are you doing with your life? You're doing this, doing that. They didn't know what it was. They didn't know what MMA was. They didn't know none of this. They didn't know I could make a career out of it. As far as they were concerned, my mom and dad I'm talking about, as far as they were concerned, I was just getting into a cage and fighting with some other guy. They didn't know nothing about it. No one did really. But I knew, you know what I mean? I knew. And then I ended up getting a trade just to keep them quiet. Because I used to have a lot of fights with my dad. What trade did you get? I ended up getting a trade as a plumber. How bad was that? The plumbing? Yeah.

Horrendous. Were you actually in the trenches? I mean, it was in industrial. So I'd be like building this. It'd be like the plumbing that would be needed in a place like this, 6 o'clock in the morning, and the motorway, and I used to have to walk for about an hour to get to the motorway, and then I'd stand on the edge of the motorway and wait for a bloke to drive by so he'd give me a lift, and then the motorway was like getting renovation at times, so it'd take me 2 hours, 2 and a half hours to get to the place, it was out in the country, then I'd be there for 10 hours walking, and I was a first year, so I was the worst of the worst, you know what I mean, I was only beginning. Then 2 hours to get back in the traffic again. It was just a horrible, horrible time, and I was like, you know what, I don't want to deal with this, and I just left.

I lasted 18 months doing it. But it was tough, you know what I mean? It wasn't the life for me, you know what I mean? And then John said, 'cause I was training with John as well at the time, and then John got in touch and says, 'I have a show, I'm running a show, I'd like to fight on it.' And then that was it. I just packed it in, didn't show up. Me dad used to come in and punch the head off me and like try and drag me out of bed, and I just wouldn't go, you know what I mean? I had uproar for a good few years with him over it. And that was it. I just packed it in, quit, and then focused on training. And that's— I knew, I knew, I knew what was going to happen. I knew I was going to get here. They didn't. There's a lot of stressful years, you know what I mean? A lot of tough times. But I proved them wrong. I proved myself right. But everything I do in my life is related to this. I don't do nothing else if it's not got to do with fighting. You know what I mean? And that is why, you know what I mean? To be truthful, all you've got to do is show up. Is that not unhealthy? I don't know. Do I look unhealthy? Take a look at this physique. I'm in phenomenal shape in body and mind. To me, what's unhealthy is living an unhealthy life. To me, what's unhealthy is getting up and going through the same day every day, like 9 to 5 in an office or in a— that's unhealthy. That beats your mind. I don't work. I love what I do, and that's why I'm doing what I love. You know what I mean? That's why it's become a career for me, because I love it. I love what I do.