Conor
Mc Gregor

Conor McGregor is a multi-weight UFC champion, entrepreneur and global business and athletic icon.
Hailing from Crumlin, Dublin, McGregor was a plumber’s apprentice and amateur fighter before bursting onto the UFC scene in 2013. He quickly rose up the ranks, winning the UFC Featherweight Championship in 2015. McGregor then made history by becoming the first fighter in UFC history to be champion in two weight divisions simultaneously, winning the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2016. McGregor is the largest draw in UFC history, headlining the top six most-bought pay-per-view events for the company. He is the most-followed UFC fighter on social media with more than 70 million followers across all platforms, and has set the record for the most career earnings by a UFC athlete.
Outside the octagon, McGregor has found similar success. He founded Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey in 2018, which has become the fastest-growing whiskey brand on the market. In addition to Proper No. Twelve, McGregor has invested in a stable of business ventures including: TIDL Recovery Spray, McGregorFast fitness experience, the Black Forge Inn in Dublin, the Dystopia: Conquest of Heroes video game series, and Forged Irish Stout, among others. This diversified portfolio helped place McGregor at number 1 on the 2021 Forbes “Highest-Paid Athletes” list.

Our interview with Conor

If you want to win, you need to be all-in

Conor McGregor is a multi-weight UFC champion, entrepreneur and global business and athletic icon. Hailing from Crumlin, Dublin, McGregor was a plumber’s apprentice and amateur fighter before bursting onto the UFC scene in 2013. He quickly rose up the ranks, winning the UFC Featherweight Championship in 2015. McGregor then made history by becoming the first fighter in UFC history to be champion in two weight divisions simultaneously, winning the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2016. As the first fighter to ever hold two UFC belts at the same time, Conor McGregor will go down in history as a great fighter and one of the most successful athletes of all time.

Outside the Octagon, McGregor has found similar success in business. The former UFC double champion is always looking to add new business projects to his list. He founded the fastest-growing whiskey brand on the market, invested in a stable of business ventures connected with sports, he owns a restaurant and even became the main face of the popular online game. Conor McGregor has just started a partnership with a global investing company XTB and became the brand's global ambassador. In the interview, he talks about the mindset, confidence and passion that took him from a training gym in a suburb outside of Dublin to worldwide fame making him the biggest name in the UFC. His insights are relevant not only to sports, but may also be valuable in everyday life.

You have made your own successful way from boxing gyms of Crumlin to an UFC championship. It must have taken a lot of determination to achieve the top position. How do you find your inner motivation for constant development?

Conor McGregor: I’ve just had this dream since I was a kid to be the best there ever was. I wanted to give an incredible life to myself and my family. And I never let anything stop me. I put in the work, took risks, and the results came.

What is most important for you in a sport? Are there any lessons from sports that could be translated to life?

Sport teaches you about getting back up after you fall. Fighting specifically teaches you that. You will get knocked out and battered one day – just like in life. How you respond is everything. If you can withstand the blows and keep fighting, you’ll find some sort of success.

Your sports career shows that you mentally won many of your fights even before the first round. Would you agree that it is about the mindset whether someone will achieve success or not?

It’s a combination of both mental and physical preparation. Someone with an unbreakable drive and a clear vision is not going to be discouraged or distracted. You need to be 100% mentally and emotionally committed and prepared.

People often set limitations on their potential. What is your best advice on breaking one’s limits?

There are no real limits to what one can do! They are placed on you by yourself or by society. In truth, everything is possible if you put your heart and mind into it.

Martial arts are very demanding, both physically and mentally. Every fight needs a perfect preparation - heavy drills but also preparing a plan. How do you prepare a winning strategy?

Well, it’s about knowing your opponent inside and out. And it’s about preparing yourself to such a point where you can trust yourself, mentally and physically, to be ready for everything. Sun Tzu said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

As a fighter, it is good to understand the stress response and how it works. How do you cope with the stress in the most highly pressured situation?

The world is watching, there is no hiding from that anymore. But I enjoy the pressure. It motivates me and takes me to another place. It locks me into the moment, heightens my awareness, makes me appreciate all I’ve accomplished, and reminds me what I need to do.

You excel equally at sport and business. You were the highest-paid athlete last year. You have proved you have a business acumen: the businesses you have invested in turned out to bring profits. What do you think determines the success in business?

Well, many athletes will just invest their money and let the “experts” handle the day-to-day. Not me. You can’t just invest money; you have to invest your time, your emotions, and make a personal commitment. I take an active role in every venture. I help to make sure we bring in the right people, our processes are top quality, and our expectations never falter.

Do you see any similarities between business and sports?

If you want to win, you need to be all-in. You need to prepare, you need to know your opponents, your competition. You need to understand yourself – your strengths and weaknesses, and you need to be dedicated to the craft.

Sport as well as business can be unpredictable. How do you cope with situations when things don't work out as planned?

Well, I’ve had setbacks before. It happens. For me, you can learn more from losses than you can from wins. You learn from your mistakes, you study your failure to see where it went wrong, and you use it as motivation. Setbacks are brutal – but every loss I’ve had has motivated me to get better.

Many people feel uncomfortable talking about money. You are talking openly about your incomes or investments. Do you think people still talk too little about finance?

I talk about money so people realize you can come from any background and be successful in business. It’s not just a club for the guys on Wall Street. If someone sees me, a professional fighter who never went to university, talking about business, then they may say “I can do that!”

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Press release

XTB announces Conor McGregor
as its newest global brand ambassador

XTB, a global fintech offering one of most popular investing platforms, has just announced the launch of their cooperation with famous mixed martial artist - Conor McGregor. He will be the global XTB brand ambassador for the upcoming two years.

- It is with great pleasure that I announce our partnership with Conor McGregor. We wanted our new brand ambassador to be a global icon. Conor is one of the most successful athletes in the history of mixed martial arts who, thanks to his immense work ethic and continuous improvement, was able to be the first UFC champion in two weight categories. His story resonates well with our brand and strategy. At XTB we work hard to be able to offer our clients with top-notch technology and an innovative investing platform to help them achieve their investment goals. Determination, persistence in pursuing goals, the willingness to constantly develop and achieve the best results - these are also the features of a good investor. Conor as an athlete - and also a businessman - has the mindset of a winner. That’s why we decided to invite him to become the ambassador of the XTB brand - says Omar Arnaout, CEO of XTB.

Conor McGregor is a multi-weight UFC champion, entrepreneur, restaurateur, and global business and athletic icon. Hailing from Crumlin, Dublin, McGregor was a plumber’s apprentice and amateur fighter before bursting onto the UFC scene in 2013. He quickly rose up the ranks, winning the UFC Featherweight Championship in 2015. McGregor then made history by becoming the first fighter in UFC history to be champion in two weight divisions simultaneously, winning the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2016. McGregor is the largest draw in UFC history, headlining the top six most-bought pay-per-view events for the company. He is the most-followed UFC fighter on social media with more than 70 million followers across all platforms, and has set the record for the most career earnings by a UFC athlete.

Outside the Octagon, McGregor has found similar success. He founded Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey in 2018, which has become the fastest-growing whiskey brand on the market. In addition to Proper No. Twelve, McGregor has invested in a stable of business ventures including: TIDL Recovery Spray, McGregorFast fitness experience, the Black Forge Inn in Dublin, the Dystopia: Conquest of Heroes video game series, and Forged Irish Stout, among others. This diversified portfolio helped place McGregor at number 1 on the 2021 Forbes “Highest-Paid Athletes” list.

- I am delighted to have become the official ambassador of one of the world's leading investment companies for the coming years. I believe sport and investing require the same features: commitment, mental tenacity and the ability to set personal goals. That’s why I was happy to start a partnership with XTB - a recognized global investment company that supports its clients to facilitate their investment objectives – said Conor McGregor.

The announcement of the cooperation between Conor McGregor and XTB marks the start of the broker’s new global branding campaign in which XTB promotes a wide range of investment solutions it offers. In advertising videos with the new brand ambassador, the company explains that thanks to the easy access to XTB’s digital platform, numerous investing solutions are today available for everyone who is ready to start his or her investment journey.

With Conor McGregor as a brand ambassador XTB plans to continue its development. The number of the investing company's clients worldwide has crossed the threshold of half a million. Thanks to the active global development and the systematically growing number of clients, the company strengthens its position on the investment market - XTB ranks among top five global brokers in terms of the number of active clients.

About XTB:

The XTB Group is an international provider of trading and investment products, services and technology solutions. The XTB Group entities are supervised by the world's largest regulators, including FCA, CySEC and KNF. For over 17 years, the XTB Group has provided retail investors with immediate access to hundreds of markets around the world. XTB is a fintech company based on trust, technology and support. Since 2004, the XTB Group has been expanding its business, which now covers 13 major markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia, gaining the trust of over 525,000 customers. Using their own award-winning xStation and xStation Mobile platforms, XTB Group entities offer access to over 5700 financial instruments, including real stocks, ETFs and CFDs for Forex, indices, commodities, stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. More at: www.xtb.com

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

[20.09.2022]