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While Conor McGregor is undoubtedly the UFC’s biggest-ever star, he’s also been one of their most controversial. Over the years, he’s been involved in a number of bitter feuds.
Some of Conor McGregor’s most bitter fall-outs have actually been with individuals who were at one point closely involved with him, some of them helping him to become the star he is today.
Whether McGregor was purely to blame for those fall-outs or whether they were down to the other party is highly debatable, of course. However, the fact that he’s grown apart from so many individuals over the years tells its own story.
Here are five times Conor McGregor fell out with individuals who were closely involved in his journey to UFC stardom.
#5. Conor McGregor fell out with Paulie Malignaggi
Quite how close Conor McGregor was with former WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi is up for debate. However, it’s definitely safe to say that after ‘Magic Man’ left the Irishman’s training camp in 2017, they’re not likely to be exchanging pleasantries any time soon.
Malignaggi was invited to train with ‘The Notorious’ prior to his 2017 megafight with Floyd Mayweather. On the surface, it made a lot of sense.
With nearly two decades of professional boxing experience to his name, ‘Magic Man’ sounded like the perfect sparring partner for the UFC champion, who’d never boxed professionally before. For Malignaggi, it felt like a great move after his retirement just months before.
However, things quickly went sour when photos of an overly-heated sparring session between the two were leaked onto social media. These photos apparently showed McGregor landing a knockdown on his more experienced training partner.
Furious with this, Malignaggi immediately left the training camp, claiming that he’d never been knocked down by ‘The Notorious’. He stated that the photos instead showed him being pushed to the ground.
He also labeled McGregor “one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life – bar none,” and compared the training camp to “some kind of crack house that had been renovated a little bit.”
Given what happened between the two, it’s highly likely that Malignaggi would’ve been pleased with the result of McGregor’s fight with Mayweather. The bout saw the Irishman eventually stopped via TKO.
#4. Conor McGregor fell out with Ido Portal
After Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds to claim the UFC featherweight title in 2015, he took to the microphone to utter one of his most famous quotes.
According to ‘The Notorious’, “precision beats power and timing beats speed.” It was a line that instantly went viral, and it didn’t take long for observers to look deeper into the Irishman’s approach.
In the weeks after the win over Aldo, it was revealed that McGregor had been working with a “movement coach” in the form of Israel’s Ido Portal. He had apparently been helping develop the Irishman’s footwork and timing.
Sure, in an interview, Portal sounded a little whacky. However, his approach was seemingly helping McGregor to succeed.
However, when Nate Diaz famously quipped that McGregor was “playing touch-but with that dork in the park with the ponytail.” it suddenly became harder to take Portal seriously.
While the Israeli was still part of the Irishman’s camp in 2017, since then, he’s been nowhere to be seen.
Portal did wish McGregor good luck for one of his 2021 bouts with Dustin Poirier via Instagram, but it doesn’t appear that ‘The Notorious’ has mentioned him in return since.
While this one might not be a fall-out as such, it does stand as a potential example of McGregor seemingly discarding a coach with little regret.
#3. Conor McGregor fell out with John Kavanagh
If anyone can be given credit for helping Conor McGregor to climb from obscurity to the top of the UFC, it’s his coach at the Straight Blast Gym, John Kavanagh.
However, while Kavanagh still acts as McGregor’s head coach to this day, even he wasn’t immune to seemingly falling out with ‘The Notorious’ a few years ago.
Following McGregor’s devastating defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov in their UFC lightweight title bout in October 2018 at UFC 229, Kavanagh revealed to the media that he and ‘The Notorious’ had essentially gone their separate ways. The coach stated that they hadn’t spoken in the days after the fight.
Kavanagh did say that he intended to sit down with McGregor to discuss what’d gone wrong in the fight, but hinted at some friction inside their camp. Essentially, he suggested that ‘The Notorious’ could’ve been distracted by his hectic schedule.
According to Kavanagh, McGregor’s schedule had “always been a concern,” and his coaches were “always vying for his attention.”
In 2020, Kavanagh did confirm that he was “tighter than ever” with McGregor, but also admitted that the two had drifted apart prior to that. This was not so much a fall-out, but simply a case of ‘The Notorious’ seemingly letting his focus slide.
#2. Conor McGregor fell out with Artem Lobov
Perhaps the most bitter fall-out that Conor McGregor has had with an individual he was once close with is his current feud with former training partner Artem Lobov.
‘The Notorious’ was essentially responsible for Lobov’s arrival in the UFC via the 22nd season of The Ultimate Fighter. The season saw the Irishman coach a team of European fighters against an American team led by Urijah Faber.
Lobov made it to the finals of the season after being reinstated by McGregor following his early elimination, something that courted controversy at the time. He then went onto spend three years in the UFC, putting together a record of 2-5.
However, while many UFC fans had probably forgotten about ‘The Russian Hammer’ since he departed the promotion in 2018, his name has resurfaced recently thanks to a legal issue with McGregor.
Essentially, Lobov is claiming that he was instrumental in helping McGregor launch his Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey brand, which was sold to Proximo Spirits for $600m in 2021.
Remarkably, ‘The Russian Hammer’ has chosen to not only sue ‘The Notorious’ for 5% of the proceeds of the sale, but he’s also reportedly filed a second lawsuit against his former teammate, this time for defamation.
McGregor’s response to this? He promptly called out Lobov for a fight in the gym. Although that request doesn’t appear to have been granted, it’s probably safe to say that we haven’t heard the last of this fall-out yet.
#1. Conor McGregor fell out with Dana White
Ever since Conor McGregor made his UFC debut in 2013, the promotion – and in particular its president, Dana White – have been accused of giving the Irishman preferential treatment.
However, while there’s no concrete proof that the UFC have favored ‘The Notorious’ over any of their other fighters, it’s clear that McGregor has always enjoyed a great relationship with White.
Despite this, there have been periods of strife between the two. At times, it’s felt like their relationship has been close to breaking point.
2016, for instance, saw White and McGregor fall out when the Irishman was pulled out of his headline bout with Nate Diaz at UFC 200 due to his unwillingness to attend a pre-event press conference.
The UFC president was scathing of McGregor’s behavior in the infamous incident that saw him attack a bus full of fighters prior to UFC 223.
He also slammed him in 2020 after the Irishman leaked a private conversation between the two that saw White deny McGregor a fight with aging veteran Diego Sanchez.
While relations between the two seem to be cordial at the minute, likely because White recognizes McGregor’s status as the UFC’s biggest drawing card, it’s safe to say that their relationship has been a rocky one.
This is despite the fact that the UFC president clearly gave the Irishman plenty of help along the way in terms of becoming a superstar.
