LAS VEGAS — Long before Conor McGregor was a household name in the MMA community, Halli Nelson was e-mailing UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby about him.
Nelson made a big push to get McGregor in the UFC back in 2012 when Nelson’s son Gunnar was signed. When McGregor knocked out Ivan Buchinger at Cage Warriors 51 in December 2012, Nelson sent the video to Silva, who responded that it was “impressive.” Not coincidentally, McGregor’s next fight was in the UFC.
“I was always sure that Conor would be a star when he got into the UFC,” Nelson told MMAFighting.com. “That’s what I told Joe Silva and Sean Shelby when I was writing them. Everybody was predicting this. But if course it’s been very fast. He has embraced the opportunity and put in the work.”
McGregor’s first UFC fight was in April 2013. Two years and change later, he’s one of the biggest stars in the entire industry. On Saturday night, he’ll headline UFC 189 against Chad Mendes with the interim featherweight title on the line. The event could draw the UFC’s best gate at more than $7 million and pay-per-view buys are trending highly. There’s no doubt that this week at MGM Grand has been The McGregor Show.
Nelson, whose son still trains with McGregor, still sees the same McGregor now as he did then.
“In a way, it’s surprisingly fast, but it still doesn’t surprise me that he’s a star,” Nelson said. “He was always going to be a star.
“He’s a great fighter. He has the talents. Second of all, it’s the way he is. You know, loud and everything. If you followed his fights before the UFC, even the weigh-ins he was going at people. I was always sure this was something that would get a lot of fans. And also a lot of people that would hate him, but that sells tickets, too.”
Nelson remembers the day McGregor was signed by the UFC. Nelson was eating dinner with McGregor’s longtime coach John Kavanagh at a restaurant in his native Iceland. Silva called Nelson to tell him and then Kavanagh went outside to call McGregor.
“At first, Conor didn’t answer,” Nelson said. “Finally he answered and the rest is history.”
Nelson is in town this week, because Gunnar is also fighting at UFC 189, against Brandon Thatch. But, then again, Nelson probably would have been here anyway for his former client, who he still calls a friend. But he takes zero credit for helping McGregor get here.
“It’s nice,” Nelson said. “But let’s make it clear. Conor is here because of his talents and all that credit belongs to him and John Kavanagh and his teammates, obviously. He was already fighting top names in Europe outside of the UFC. The only thing I did was kind of push it a little bit. I think Conor would have gotten there anyway. He didn’t need me to do that.”