UFC fighter Conor McGregor goes on racist rant during White House visit
Conor McGregor, the bigoted UFC fighter, visited the White House on St. Patrick’s Day to plead on behalf of Ireland.
“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 said alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
McGregor went on to claim that rural towns in his home country are “overrun” by “illegal immigration racket” and locals have become “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 become a figurehead for the far-right movement in Ireland, and his statements seem to echo a similar sentiment that Trump’s voter base has in the U.S. McGregor is also well known for his racist and homophobic remarks.
However, Ireland’s government was quick to say that the Irish do not share McGregor’s nationalist values. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin took to X to call McGregor’s remarks wrong, adding that they “do not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.”
The country’s minister for foreign affairs also addressed the fighter’s visit to the White House. Speaking to reporters in New York City, Simon Harris said that McGregor “is not here in the United States representing Ireland or the people of Ireland. … He doesn’t speak for Ireland. He doesn’t speak for the people of Ireland. He has no mandate to do such.”
McGregor’s statements came ahead of his official visit with President Donald Trump, where he is expected to make his case for the U.S. to help in some way.
But as Trump hears out the fighter’s case, just last week the president got into a heated exchange with Martin in the Oval Office.
“You took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies,” Trump told Martin. “This beautiful island of 5 million people has got the entire U.S. pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.”
Trump notably praised McGregor during that visit as well. McGregor and Trump share a few things in common, like their history of alleged sexual assault. In 2024, McGregor paid $250,000 to a woman who accused him of raping her in a Dublin hotel room in 2018.
McGregor also has a hefty string of driving violations, on top of a couple of other arrests. In 2019, according to police, the fighter stole a fan’s cellphone and stomped on it repeatedly after they tried to take a photo of him. He also made headlines and nearly served prison time when he threw a dolly at a tour bus in New York City.
The president has a history of being very sympathetic to UFC fighters and its founder, Dana White.
When White and UFC faced years of states and politicians banning the fights, Trump opened his now-bankrupt casino to the fighting organization.
But now UFC bros have seemingly taken over the White House. And while on the surface this may be nothing other than some camaraderie, the growing connection between UFC and far-right ideology has been deepening.
Trump’s inauguration guest list alone had White, McGregor, podcast host and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, fighters and boxers Jon Jones, and Jake and Logan Paul.
Bryce Mitchell, another UFC fighter who attended the inauguration, praised Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust on his podcast shortly before the event. White, however, did not ban Mitchell from UFC, though he did denounce his remarks.
But White, who now serves on the board of directors at Meta (the parent company of Facebook), is even sympathetic to accused sex 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 were extradited back from Romania.
“Welcome back to the states, boys,” White said in a now-viral video.
While the UFC has long been a safe haven for the outrageous, the brutal, and the extreme sides of masculinity—it can now be seen walking the hallways of the White House as well.
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