UFC star Conor McGregor is often labelled brash and arrogant, but as Jeremy Botter revealed in his Bleacher Report exclusive this week, he is a much more complex character than that.
McGregor showed his softer side on Wednesday, when he told a story about a young fan from his native Ireland who recently died from cancer.
McGregor was talking to Michael Landsberg on TSN’s Off the Record and choked up when he was asked about 14-year-old Brendan McGlone.
You can watch the interview above, but the Irish Independent also transcribed McGregor’s comments.
What happened was I got a phone call from a person in the UFC and it was someone from the Make A Wish foundation who reached out to them and said ‘this kid from Ireland, he has cancer and this is probably going to be his last wish and his last wish is to talk on the phone to you.’
So I rang the kid and we talked for a long time. I talked with his friends in the hospital and his family and today or last night he passed away.
So it F—– my head up because this little kid is in Ireland and I’m telling the kid I’m going to take this belt and I’m going to you. And I would have done it. I would have flew him out to Vegas. They were thinking maybe if he got a little bit better we could fly him out to Vegas.
It’s just a really sad situation. it’s heartbreaking. I have lost family members to cancer and it is a horrible, horrible thing.
McGregor fights Chad Mendes at UFC 189 on Saturday night.
[YouTube: TSN Tube, h/t Irish Independent]
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