Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has opened up on his recent meeting with UFC star Conor McGregor at his Dublin pub, The Black Forge Inn. Hearn hailed “character” McGregor, who was full of ideas and a self-professed Katie Taylor fan, and says he’ll never forget crossing paths with the Irishman.
Speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Hearn recalled: “I always take people how I see them. You hear this, you hear that, you hear this, you hear that. I had – I don’t know how long we were there. An hour and a half, two hours. Just the funniest time, I love great energy and this guy [McGregor] is a pure character – it was like being in a press conference.
“We’re sitting there in The Black Forge, a beautiful pub by the way, he’s done an unbelievable job in his hometown where he lives. Then all of a sudden a couple of these cameramen turn up and in he comes, Conor. We’ve met once before at a Katie Taylor fight literally for five, ten seconds. ‘How’re you doing? Yeah’ blah, blah, blah.
“And he comes in, you know, just the energy and the enthusiasm. That’s one thing that I took out of it is, in boxing – and this obviously sits alongside MMA as well – you fall in love with the sport. He’s so passionate about boxing, about Mixed Martial Arts, he wouldn’t sit down. He’s ordered a steak, he’s standing up showing me how he’d fight this guy, how he’d fight that guy.
“Then he’s telling me about the Nate Diaz fight, when he’s on his back and he’s got a bad knee – he’s like a million miles an hour. But it’s like, ‘We should do this. We should do that. Let’s do this. Let’s make it happen’. I’m sure everyone’s got their opinion – my opinion is I love him. I think he’s such a character, in life you want to be around people where you go, ‘I’ll never forget [you]’.
“I will never forget that moment with Conor McGregor. And to be fair to him, I know there’s an element to everything that everybody does about publicity and exposure, but he has a genuine passion – he loves Katie Taylor. He thinks she’s amazing, she’s a hero in that country, and he wanted to help make it happen for her, for Ireland as well. And I’m sure he gets stick, as everybody does, when they reached those kind of heights, but I had a great time, I really did.”
Taylor is, of course, the current undisputed lightweight champion and has a perfect 22-0 boxing record. The 36-year-old last fought in October, where she won via unanimous decision against Karen Elizabeth Carabajal. Taylor would like to fight on home soil in Ireland at Croke Park this year.
McGregor, meanwhile, is gearing up for a return to the UFC, where he will face Michael Chandler in late 2023 to conclude The Ultimate Fighter 31. McGregor is marking ten years as a UFC fighter in 2023 but it’s been 18 months since fans have seen the Irishman in the Octagon and over three years have passed since his last win.