Prior to the Conor McGregor-Donald Cerrone fight Daithi O’Donnabhain set out his stall in relation to McGregor, a fighter he had long admired. Its publication was delayed due to a miscommunication.

On January 18th Irish MMA star Conor McGregor returns against Donald Cerrone in a 170lb bout at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, for UFC 246.

Its his first fight since the utter debacle that ensued in and out of the octagon after his 155lb title fight against current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, in October 2018, where he was unable to withstand the barrage unleashed by his opponent and tapped out in the fourth round. Khabib hadn't exacted enough punishment as he felt Conor and his team deserved so carried on the fight by vaulting the cage into McGregors cornermen, which then spread the violence out into the crowd. Irish fans were unprepared as gangs of Muslims hunted them down on the Las Vegas strip, setting upon them mercilessly, and then filming their splayed out victims to commemorate the total national humiliation inflicted on us.

The Irish newspapers naturally sensed an opportunity to complete the destruction of a person they never accepted and thus they could barely conceal their glee at the loss, according to one porcine contributor:

 "...He's no elite sportsman and now he has got his comeuppance. He was humiliated..." 

One ‘never-was’ thought it appropriate to ponder:

“...sad McGregor facing the grim reality of a has been...”

These are but two example of many I could have selected from scum I wouldn’t deign to name in the predatory press. It simply made me wish to hold him even closer, to defend him even more vigorously. But allegations to emerge subsequently are of such a severe nature I have had to relax my protective grip of him, namely [Redacted due to Irish Libel Laws] and a violent unprovoked attack on a grey haired man enjoying a lunchtime drink. A video of the latter incident shows an old(ish) man simply refusing to be given some of Conor's promotional whiskey before a toast, a ‘disrespect’ for which he was then ‘sucker punched’ when he turned his back on Conor. Its an indefensible attack on a member of the community who should expect protection by the strong, not predation by the strong.

Up to this point, Conor had threatened to transcend the sport of MMA, and as being Irish became culturally cool again on the global stage I thought he might become an avatar of implicit Irish identity. Here was something vivid and vital for people to coalesce around, part of it is a unifying myth of the fighting Irish, manifest with such stark ferocity by Conor as to break barriers between individuals down. It didn’t matter how true it all was, we had these moments which each other, now. It was not to be.

In hindsight there were some ‘red flags’ before the fight that would indicate a general malaise in his camp, that has been subsequently confirmed as present by Conor himself when he admitted he was not as committed to his training regimen as he had been for previous bouts. The pre-229 press conferences were absent psychological onslaught he inflicts on his opponents, often with real wit and charm. He was drinking and promoting his (then) new whiskey brand, and resorted to cringe inducing attacks on a tactically quiet Khabib. Amongst some of the insults, Conor tried to create some difficulty in the Russian and Dagestani identities Khabib straddles, and called Khabib's father a coward for (correctly) not seeking to violently address historic animosities when meeting Russian/Dagestani/Chechen heads of State.

For all his relative silence and (according to Conor) language capabilities during the presser, Khabib still had the best line when he queried why if Ireland is a fighting nation, he is always speaking in English when Ireland has its own language! It was a brutal takedown that portended the fight. Conor resorted to mocking Khabibs pronunciation in the said English language, just one of the (at least) five languages he is said to speak. It was a cringe inducing bully dynamic that has persisted after the fight as Conor taunts him on twitter for an undeserved rematch and Khabib replies simply “[Redacted]. You are a [Redacted]”.

Although there have been even fewer opportunities for the press to meet and examine Conor before this bout than there was for UFC 229 (which itself had Conor refusing to do as many media requests as normally required), the few bits of information that has been revealed give cause for alarm. His head coach John Kavaunagh has indicated that the camp for Cerrone was designed/dictated entirely by Conor himself since according to Kavaunagh, and I paraphrase ‘he [Conor] knows more about fighting than all of us put together’. A fighter designing his routine and being successful has not been done before, which doesn’t preclude this being another ‘first’ for Conor, but it seems improbable, it smacks more of ego. A return to the regimen that yielded such historic results along with performances of a timeless beauty would of seemed more desirable.

But this preview will differ from the structure of ones done for his previous fights. I will not be aggregating the key factors to indicate who the victor is likely to be, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is. Whoever the winner may be, it feels the Irish have lost already.


Daithi O’Donnabhain describes himself as "a regular sh*tposter on TPQ

The King Is Dead

Prior to the Conor McGregor-Donald Cerrone fight Daithi O’Donnabhain set out his stall in relation to McGregor, a fighter he had long admired. Its publication was delayed due to a miscommunication.

On January 18th Irish MMA star Conor McGregor returns against Donald Cerrone in a 170lb bout at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, for UFC 246.

Its his first fight since the utter debacle that ensued in and out of the octagon after his 155lb title fight against current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, in October 2018, where he was unable to withstand the barrage unleashed by his opponent and tapped out in the fourth round. Khabib hadn't exacted enough punishment as he felt Conor and his team deserved so carried on the fight by vaulting the cage into McGregors cornermen, which then spread the violence out into the crowd. Irish fans were unprepared as gangs of Muslims hunted them down on the Las Vegas strip, setting upon them mercilessly, and then filming their splayed out victims to commemorate the total national humiliation inflicted on us.

The Irish newspapers naturally sensed an opportunity to complete the destruction of a person they never accepted and thus they could barely conceal their glee at the loss, according to one porcine contributor:

 "...He's no elite sportsman and now he has got his comeuppance. He was humiliated..." 

One ‘never-was’ thought it appropriate to ponder:

“...sad McGregor facing the grim reality of a has been...”

These are but two example of many I could have selected from scum I wouldn’t deign to name in the predatory press. It simply made me wish to hold him even closer, to defend him even more vigorously. But allegations to emerge subsequently are of such a severe nature I have had to relax my protective grip of him, namely [Redacted due to Irish Libel Laws] and a violent unprovoked attack on a grey haired man enjoying a lunchtime drink. A video of the latter incident shows an old(ish) man simply refusing to be given some of Conor's promotional whiskey before a toast, a ‘disrespect’ for which he was then ‘sucker punched’ when he turned his back on Conor. Its an indefensible attack on a member of the community who should expect protection by the strong, not predation by the strong.

Up to this point, Conor had threatened to transcend the sport of MMA, and as being Irish became culturally cool again on the global stage I thought he might become an avatar of implicit Irish identity. Here was something vivid and vital for people to coalesce around, part of it is a unifying myth of the fighting Irish, manifest with such stark ferocity by Conor as to break barriers between individuals down. It didn’t matter how true it all was, we had these moments which each other, now. It was not to be.

In hindsight there were some ‘red flags’ before the fight that would indicate a general malaise in his camp, that has been subsequently confirmed as present by Conor himself when he admitted he was not as committed to his training regimen as he had been for previous bouts. The pre-229 press conferences were absent psychological onslaught he inflicts on his opponents, often with real wit and charm. He was drinking and promoting his (then) new whiskey brand, and resorted to cringe inducing attacks on a tactically quiet Khabib. Amongst some of the insults, Conor tried to create some difficulty in the Russian and Dagestani identities Khabib straddles, and called Khabib's father a coward for (correctly) not seeking to violently address historic animosities when meeting Russian/Dagestani/Chechen heads of State.

For all his relative silence and (according to Conor) language capabilities during the presser, Khabib still had the best line when he queried why if Ireland is a fighting nation, he is always speaking in English when Ireland has its own language! It was a brutal takedown that portended the fight. Conor resorted to mocking Khabibs pronunciation in the said English language, just one of the (at least) five languages he is said to speak. It was a cringe inducing bully dynamic that has persisted after the fight as Conor taunts him on twitter for an undeserved rematch and Khabib replies simply “[Redacted]. You are a [Redacted]”.

Although there have been even fewer opportunities for the press to meet and examine Conor before this bout than there was for UFC 229 (which itself had Conor refusing to do as many media requests as normally required), the few bits of information that has been revealed give cause for alarm. His head coach John Kavaunagh has indicated that the camp for Cerrone was designed/dictated entirely by Conor himself since according to Kavaunagh, and I paraphrase ‘he [Conor] knows more about fighting than all of us put together’. A fighter designing his routine and being successful has not been done before, which doesn’t preclude this being another ‘first’ for Conor, but it seems improbable, it smacks more of ego. A return to the regimen that yielded such historic results along with performances of a timeless beauty would of seemed more desirable.

But this preview will differ from the structure of ones done for his previous fights. I will not be aggregating the key factors to indicate who the victor is likely to be, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is. Whoever the winner may be, it feels the Irish have lost already.


Daithi O’Donnabhain describes himself as "a regular sh*tposter on TPQ

16 comments:

  1. Thanks sorting it out. During the delay I liked to imagine the title of “TPQ’s Most Censored Man!” Heheheh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is certainly an interesting piece but what I do not understand is the total national humiliation inflicted on us.

      I saw no national humiliation. A thug getting his comeuppance his hardly national humiliation. It would be a national humiliation were the majority of Irish people to consider it a national humiliation. There has been no more national humiliation involved here than there has been religious humiliation. Conor the Catholic or Conor the Irish dude means Sweet FA to me.
      There is noting wrong with having a sense of national identity but why would we want to a thug to be the standard bearer for it?

      There are many ways to express national identity, creative ways.

      Having a national identity does not prevent us having other identities. Most people have multiple identities. I identify as European before I identify as Irish.

      Delete
  2. AM, it’s not so much his defeat, it’s more the symbology of flag waving fans getting beaten up. Some of the videos I saw were awful, lone, often well oiled fans struggling against five or six men while nobody else came to their aid. “When one goes to war, we all go to war “ says Conor, no we don’t.

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    1. flag waving fans getting beat up still in my view hardly amounts to a national humiliation. The nation didn't invest in McGregor and many citizens probably frown that the national flag would be used to wave on such a character as McGregor. If the Gardaí baton charged a crowd of flag waving supporters of say one of the Kinahan gang outside a courthouse, I would ask why the flag was there but ony after asking why it was considered appropriate to baton them. I would regard it as a violation of the rights of the people outside the court but by no stretch of the imagination would I seee it as a national humiliation. I admit to not being a very strong nationalist. I think nationalism has no more a claim on my allegiance than say Catholicism. I don't believe in obligatory nationalism or obligatory Catholicism.
      I enjoyed the piece, thought it well writtten and it is just unfortunate you do not write more for us.

      Delete
  3. Because they were beaten up for carrying the flag. You use the flag waving criminal gang example, but a closer one might be Paisley and the RUC marching down the falls to trash the same flag? Context matters.
    In terms of writing more, thanks. Though very little penetrates my bubble, so I’m without much stimuli. Less stimuli, less to worry about (or write about)!

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    1. Paisley and the RUC trashing the flag did not humiliate the people of Ireland but disgraced themselves. When individual US citizens burn the US flag it hardly humiliates the nation. Context matters but it is often alibi.

      Delete
  4. McGregor humiliated the Irish nation when he donned the bloodstained poppy. Khabib's triumph was greatly welcomed by Irish people too. If Khabib had done a little more research he could've reddened mcgregor even more, never mind the native tongue barb.

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  5. MickO, I don’t want to see Conor fail or be humiliated. Think of how many people in his family have been elevated with him, how many in gym etc , this goes beyond just him. I just don’t see anything exploitable from a Nationalist perspective anymore, and I feel bereft. He can have a long an successful career all the same.

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    1. the same can be said in relation tot he spin off from any venture - that sort of argument (their families) was used to justify the RIC being commemorated

      Delete
    2. the way he sought to humiliate that older guy in the pub - the gander can sup its own sauce

      Delete
  6. AM, I point out the family aspect because I think on that basis the Irish should have prefered a McGregor victory over Khabib, whose win will not increase resources for our people. I’m not trying to justify any of his behaviour, just stating the minimal case for preferring him to Khabib.

    As I said in the article, the attack on the senior fellow was predetory, and renders him unsuitable for anything more than entertainment. The gander can indeed sup its own ‘Proper12’ ! Which reminds me I must send you a bottle of it!!

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    1. Why should the Irish care one way or the other who wins? Some follow him but I am sure quite a few had a wager on the other guy. The bulk of Irish might think it is better to have manners put on arrogance.

      Delete
  7. As much as I enjoyed the spectacle of MacGregor, he's well known for taking far too much Colombian marching powder and it's beginning to show.

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  8. AM, there are people who live their lives vicariously through athletes, pop stars, actors or whatever and this is obviously not peculiar to the Irish. Acknowledging this and that not everyone has the agency or layers to their identity someone like yourself has , ex-guerilla, PhD, father, husband etc is not to explain why the Irish should care but it’s part of why they do.

    SteveR, I’ve seen these coke rumours around the MMA media, but it’s spoken of in very vague terms, mostly people saying he might be on something as his behaviour is bizarre . Is this what you are referring to, or do you have some inside scoop?

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    1. DaithiD,

      Sorry, thought I'd already replied. Mate of mine's a doorman in Belfast. MacGregor was there and "ducking into the toilets every 5 minutes, sound as fuck though"

      I didn't think he was implying that Connor had a weak bladder.

      Delete
  9. Comments from "Unknown" are not published on TPQ. You can retain your anonymity but use a distinguishing name to avoid being confused with others who also seek to post as Unknown.

    ReplyDelete