UFC champ Conor McGregor has opened up about struggling with the downside of fame, admitting that he is in “a weird place” right now.
‘The Notorious’ has revealed that his popularity with fans has started “messing with his head”, and highlighted a recent incident when he came home in September for a four-day promotion tour.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, the 27-year-old said: “I swear, by the second night I was getting dizzy from the flashes.
“I [just] lay on the bed. I must have signed a million pictures and had two million pictures taken.”
Things worsened the following night for the Dublin fighter, who attended a Q&A in a nightclub in Swords, which fans thought was a meet and greet event.
“I stayed on the stage after. People were coming up and I did autographs and a load of selfies and pictures. I must have been there an hour,” he said.
“Then I went upstairs to this little private room that they had for me. And there was about 400 people queuing all along the stairs.
“So I took some selfies, rang someone’s uncle in Canada who is a big fan, all that, but there was no way in hell I could have gone through everyone after a four-day run like that. I’d still have been there! So I had to go.”
He continued: “Then when I left I was getting messages all night. About disabled kids that were crying all the way home in their parents’ car. And I was like, ‘This is f***ing ridiculous! How was this billed as a meet-and- greet when it was supposed to be a Q&A?’
“So I felt like I let these people down when I done as much as I could. It really upset me. I felt I was let down by the people who set up the event. It was just a messed up situation.”
Conor said he reached out to as many disappointed fans as he could and some people came to visit him in the gym, but the debacle left him feeling “like a piece of meat.”
He also discussed how annoying it is to be approached in a restaurant while he is trying to enjoy a meal with friends and family.
Referring to a recent incident, he said: “(A fan) was going ‘Colin! Colin!’ Calling me the wrong name! ‘Colin! Colin! Can we take a picture with my kids?’
“And me literally with a forkful of food in my mouth! But I said ‘Okay’, finished my food and done the thing. But then when one takes it a million come over.
He admitted: “So it’s all messing with my head a bit. That’s why I feel I just need to drift away for awhile.
“I need to say no sometimes. But then you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I’m in a weird place in my head now.”
