“Me and Jesus are cool. I’m cool with all the gods. Gods recognize gods.” This is what Conor McGregor said at the pre-fight press conference for UFC 197. Sure, that was a time when ‘The Notorious’ was in his prime. He dominated the Octagon and proved that showmanship was the selling factor in his fights. But nine years later, it seems like the Irish mixed martial artist’s stance around faith has shifted quite a bit.
After having to pull out of the fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 because of a broken pinky toe, McGregor shared an Instagram video where he had an interaction with a believer of Jesus Christ. The unnamed man asked him to believe in Jesus, and he’d go to heaven. To this, the former UFC double champion responded with “Jesus loves us all.” When the man claimed that Jesus had changed his life, McGregor replied, “Me too, brother.”
There’s absolutely no doubt in the fact that McGregor comes from a family of religious people. He had said so himself back when the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship landed in Italy. It was a time when the Irishman christened his newborn son, Rian, in the Vatican City, showing his inclination to catholicism. ‘Mystic Mac’ announced, “Italy, a strong Catholic country, a Roman Catholic country. I came here with my son, my newborn son, Rian McGregor, and we christened him in the Vatican. So, we are a very religious family. We came to Italy, and we christened our son. That was my experience and relationship with Italy to date.”
Now, ‘Mystic Mac’ took to X and shared one of his pictures from his heyday, which was captioned, “When your heart is pure, God is there!” followed by a folded hands emoji. Well, these words seemed like he was declaring his stance on participating in the Irish Presidential Elections. While McGregor has talked a lot and made his presence known in a much substantial way, his entry to the ballots still remained in control of the Oireachtas, who are affiliated with parties, but McGregor isn’t. So now, it seemed like faith was the only way he could look up to for support.
When your heart is pure, God is there! pic.twitter.com/1pJDAsVfhg
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 22, 2025
But before ‘The Notorious’ showed his religious side to his followers on X, he sent a wave of excitement through the fighting community with some teasers regarding his return. Let’s see what it was all about.
Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler tease their possible fight
On 22 April 2025, just a couple of hours before leaning on his faith, ‘The Notorious’ hinted at his possible return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It was actually a response to one of TKO Group’s X posts that showed footage from WrestleMania 41. Replying to that, the former double champion wrote, “I’ll only come back to a stadium.” And right after demanding to fight in a stadium, the Irish fighter took aim at the #12 lightweight contender, Michael Chandler.
In a tweet, McGregor wrote, “IRON MIKE CHANDLER. Unfinished business.” Soon, the excitement around the matchup skyrocketed. The reason? It was ‘Iron’s reply to McGregor. Chandler decided to share a still image from The Ultimate Fighter season 31, where he and McGregor coached against each other. And in the caption, he typed in, “Unfinished Business Loading….”
Nevertheless, uncertainty still shrouded McGregor’s return. After all, he has already declared that he has achieved a lot in his career. He has become a champion in two divisions in the UFC, acted in a Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer movie, succeeded as a businessman, and even became a part-owner of BKFC. For now, he wanted to focus on becoming the next president of Ireland and serving his country.
What are your thoughts on the former UFC double champion’s religious inclinations? Do you think his faith can help him make an epic comeback to the UFC? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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