Chael Sonnen’s Intriguing Perspective on Conor McGregor’s Irish Presidential Campaign

“The Notorious” has declared his candidacy for President of Ireland, a largely symbolic position. Despite its ceremonial nature, McGregor has been outspoken about challenging the current government and promising major reforms if he wins the election.

In a YouTube reaction video, Sonnen pondered McGregor’s reasoning, admitting that if he were an Irish voter, he’d back the fighter. “The question is does Conor have any political aspirations and could Conor get elected in Ireland?” Sonnen said. “There’s parts about Conor that I would definitely vote for, but there’s also a lot of people that I know in Ireland and they do not care for him. One of the very first things that he did is bought property elsewhere. Guys always try to make that mistake. They try to wave a flag over their head and then wave the Bahamas all over their social media. Wave a new boat they bought that they’re storing in Italy while trying to act—it’s just one of those things.”

“So I don’t know that Conor could get elected and I don’t know that that’s my business. I don’t get a vote; if I did, I actually would vote for him.”

McGregor, a former UFC two-division champion and a towering figure in modern combat sports, is eyeing politics during an extended break from fighting. The 36-year-old last competed at UFC 264 in July 2021, losing to Dustin Poirier after breaking his leg. Since then, he’s focused on recovery, explored ventures beyond the octagon, and faced two civil lawsuits over sexual assault allegations.

His planned comeback at UFC 303 in June against Michael Chandler was scrapped after a toe injury forced him out. Sonnen, who has questioned whether McGregor will ever fight again, wonders if politics or a return to MMA is the more plausible path. “Conor McGregor is going to run for the president of Ireland,” Sonnen said. “Conor McGregor is going to return to the UFC. Those are both ridiculous statements founded on no bed of truth or support. Those are both statements that are co-signed, supported and backed up by a grand total of no one. But does that make them untrue? Does it make one of them less true?

“The idea of Conor going into politics, of what he knows nothing about, isn’t the disqualifier from politics. I know lots of politicians that don’t have any idea what politics are about. I know a number of people that would like to stop those kinds of politicians and can’t and they don’t get it when the election’s over they go, ‘He doesn’t even know what it’s about?’ It doesn’t always work against you. If you’ve got a nice smile and an ability to stand in front of your local news with a message, you’ve got a very good likelihood or at least a better so likelihood of getting elected into politics than the expert that knows everything about them, but pees his pants when he talks onstage in front of people.”

Sonnen also speculated whether McGregor’s political ambitions might reflect his hesitation to return to fighting or the UFC’s struggle to secure a deal with their longtime star. He suggests McGregor’s next fight hinges on specific conditions. “I don’t think that Conor has the grit to bite down one more time, to prepare his body for a worse case, which is to have to defend itself against unarmed attack at all times and in his spot, main event, that’s up for 25 minutes,” Sonnen said. “That is a ridiculous thing to ask any human to do. And when the UFC is scratching their head and scratching their head and banging their head on the wall and they can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong and why they can’t get Conor to sign, they can change that one thing. They can make it three five-minute rounds and your likelihood just by the numbers of getting Conor to put his name on the paper will go up 70 percent.

“The UFC did not get Khabib to go do fight No. 30 and to this day this is because they did not have enough commas and zeros, when in fact the number they needed to change was the weight class of 155 is what got you the ‘no.’ If you would have made it 170, you’d have got Khabib to 30-0. Numbers matter. Conor, two jobs, president and cagefighter. Which one is less likely?”