Daniel Cormier slams Conor McGregor’s ‘ridiculous’ move into politics: ‘People in Ireland don’t even like him’

It’s safe to say Conor McGregor won’t be getting an endorsement from his fellow UFC star Daniel Cormier.

McGregor is the biggest star in MMA history. However, the Irishman has not fought since a disastrous 2021 stoppage loss to Dustin Poirier. His long absence from the Octagon has led many fans to speculate he will never fight again, and those concerns were amplified when, following a visit with U.S. President Donald Trump, he announced plans to run for the Irish presidency.

While McGregor is certainly not without supporters, his political ambition has met been met with widespread controversy. One of the latest to speak out against the Irishman’s surprising announcement is Cormier, one of just a few other fighters to hold UFC titles in two weight classes concurrently.

“He wants to be a politician,” Cormier told Chael Sonnen on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast. “I think people in Ireland don’t even like, him Chael. Everyone I speak to, they can’t stand this dude. I guess he feels like he has enough support to go into politics.”

McGregor was at the height of his popularity between 2015 and 2018, during which time he famously partook in a blockbuster boxing match with Floyd Mayweather — which he lost by stoppage — and later lost a massive UFC fight to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Following those losses, he picked up a win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in 2020, but has not won since.

“Fame is a drug” for Conor McGregor

Cormier posited that, after beating Cerrone, McGregor “must have felt a spike in his popularity,” which compelled him to take another fight against Dustin Poirier, despite having no financial reason to do so.

Sonnen echoed that sentiment, and theorized that that’s why McGregor has decided to try his hand at politics.

“Fame is a drug,” he said.

While McGregor is clearly interested in trying his hand at politics, it may not be as easy as he thinks.

Here’s how fact-checkers at European media company Euronews summed it up:

“A presidential nominee has to be an Irish citizen over the age of 35, criteria which McGregor meets. But the nominee must also either by nominated by at least 20 members of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, or by at least four of Ireland’s 31 local authorities.”

That second sentence is where McGregor will probably run into trouble, as a host of members of the Irish parliament have already condemned his plans.