Conor McGregor‘s meteoric rise once brought Irish mixed martial arts into the global spotlight, but a former teammate believes that ‘The Notorious’ has poisoned the well at home. Will Fleury, the reigning OKTAGON heavyweight and light heavyweight double champion, has dropped a scathing truth bomb on his old SBG training partner.

According to him, Conor McGregor’s actions over the last few years have significantly damaged the reputation of Irish MMA. Fleury, who is set to defend his heavyweight title against Kasim Aras tonight at OKTAGON 90 in Berlin, was blunt about how the sport’s public view has deteriorated in Ireland in recent years.

“From about 2017, 2018 onwards, that’s changed pretty drastically where if you bring up MMA to the average Irish person now who’s even under 40, they’re going to look at it as a bit of like, ‘Oh yeah, no. I don’t really want to have much to do with that,’” Fleury told Bloody Elbow. “For most people in Ireland, the sport is Conor, and the association is probably negative enough for most people right now. There’s a negative association with MMA in Ireland in general.”

During his rise to UFC two-division glory, ‘The Notorious’ created a golden period in which simply being associated with MMA earned local fighters respect in Ireland. However, now that goodwill has completely evaporated.

According to Will Fleury, who trained with the former UFC champion for years at SBG Ireland in Dublin under head coach John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor’s controversial personality might have unintentionally created a “new identity for the country.”

“Actually, it’s ended up being a really negative thing in a lot of ways,” he added.

While the Conor McGregor effect is all too well known, the validity of Will Fleury’s argument requires a deeper inspection.

The downward spiral arguably kicked into high gear with the 2018 UFC 223 bus attack in Brooklyn, where ‘The Notorious’ threw a metal dolly through a bus window, injuring fighters Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg.

This was followed by some very serious legal battles, including a 2019 conviction for hitting an elderly man in a Dublin pub and the November 2024 civil court ruling in Dublin where the Irish jury found Conor McGregor liable for Nikita Hand‘s sexual assault in 2018 and awarded her damages.

The verdict sparked outrage across Ireland, causing major retail shops to pull his products, tarnishing the image of Irish MMA.

The contrast with a decade ago is rather striking in this regard. When Conor McGregor defeated Diego Brandao in Dublin in 2014, the event drew approximately 600,000 viewers in Ireland, with the main event receiving a 21% viewership share. The figures among younger viewers were even larger, almost half of whom tuned in to watch it live, and it became the most-watched sporting event ever in the 3Arena in Dublin.

Fast forward to 2024, and the mood has entirely changed. Ian Machado Garry defeated Michael Page at UFC 303, improving to 8-0 in the UFC and breaking Conor McGregor’s record for the longest unbeaten streak by an Irish fighter in the promotion. Ten years ago, this would have dominated headlines. Instead, it received little attention in Irish media.

Back then, ‘The Notorious’ was everywhere. RTÉ even made a documentary about his meteoric rise, and every major outlet covered his title run. He was even named the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year in 2016.

If that wasn’t enough, the death of Portuguese fighter João Carvalho in 2016 during a Dublin MMA event led several Irish media outlets to call for a complete ban on the sport.

So, McGregor’s divisive reputation plus a few other unrelated incidents likely proved devastating to the local MMA scene, much like what Will Fleury argues. And now, MMA is struggling to get back the national attention it once enjoyed. Conor McGregor is still the face most people associate with the sport in the country, but for many Irish fans and fighters, that association no longer carries the same level of hype.

That disconnect is even more noticeable when you look at the national funding. Ireland is investing unprecedented amounts in sports, with over $70 million set aside for core and high-performance programs in 2026.

Athletics, boxing, and dozens of other sports receive massive public funding. However, MMA receives none of it, despite spawning global stars and once drawing some of the biggest sports audiences in the country.

It is worth noting that Will Fleury and ‘The Notorious’ had a serious back and forth on social media back in 2023 after the Dublin riots as Conor McGregor became increasingly vocal against immigration.

However, Fleury is not the only Irish fighter striving to break out from the shadow the former UFC double champion has cast over the local scene.

Back when Paul Hughes triggered Conor McGregor’s social media meltdown

Rising Lightweight prospect Paul Hughes found himself in Conor McGregor’s digital crosshairs last year after displaying a contrasting code of conduct on the global stage.

Hughes had an emotional embrace inside the cage with Usman and his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov, after losing by a razor-thin majority decision to the lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov at the PFL Dubai.

Behind-the-scenes footage showed the Irishman telling the former undefeated champion, “I’m not like this other guy, I’m my own man,” in an apparent attempt to disassociate his own career from Conor McGregor’s dark blueprint.

‘The Notorious,’ who had backed Paul Hughes prior to the fight and felt that the young contender deserved the judges’ decision, later unleashed a social media tirade that took direct aim at Hughes’ Northern Irish roots.

“Too right, you’re not,” McGregor wrote on X, before attacking the young fighter’s identity. “Get that flag off you, you little know-what-you-are c— from up there. Up the real Irish f— these vermin f—-.”

Instead of getting into a war of words, the young prospect took the high road and dismissed Conor McGregor’s rant with class on X.

“[McGregor], always said you were the GOAT, paid homage at every opportunity,” he wrote. “But coming at my Irish identity just shows where your head is at.”

Even Khabib Nurmagomedov backed Hughes on his social media.

“You are a real Irishman, not a r—– and drug addict like this b—–,” Nurmagomedov wrote in his story before inviting Hughes to train with him in Dagestan.

With top-tier Irish talent such as Will Fleury and Paul Hughes openly speaking out, the narrative is quickly shifting. Now, with Conor McGregor making his return against Max Holloway at UFC 329, it’s high time for the Irishman to be more respectful and show a different side of himself to restore the reputation of Irish MMA that he once spotlighted.