Conor McGregor’s whole image is built on his boundless self-confidence and quick wit, so it is a measure of how upset he was that he stumbled his way through a television interview last night.
The UFC star had been told about the tragic death of Brendan McGlone, a 14-year-old from Tyrone who passed away earlier this week after a battle with cancer.
@GaaAcademy are very sorry to hear about the passing of pupil & player Brendan McGlone. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. pic.twitter.com/TezAzEhbTp
— Academy Gaa (@GaaAcademy) July 7, 2015
Brendan had been a huge McGregor fan, and the fighter explained how he had come to know the sports-mad teenager.
“What happened was I got a phone call from a person in the UFC,” McGregor told the interviewer. “Someone from the Make A Wish foundation reached out to them and said, ‘this kid from Ireland, he has cancer or he has leukaemia’.
“His final wish, and this is probably going to be his last wish – is to talk on the phone to you.”
McGregor was happy to grant the wish and rang Brendan from his training base in Las Vegas.
“So I rang the kid and we talked for a long, long time,” he said. “I talked with his friends in the hospital and his family.
“Today or last night he passed away.”
The normally cocky MMA fighter was visibly shaken as he explained that he had hoped to spend more time with his young fan.
“It f**ked my head up because this little kid is in Ireland and I’m telling the kid I’m going to take this belt and I’m going to bring it to you and we’ll raise the belt,” McGregor said. “I would have done it.”
“They were thinking maybe if he got a little bit better they could fly him out here to Vegas.”
McGregor understands all too well how devastating it is for the family and everyone who knew Brendan.
“It’s just a really sad situation and it’s heart-breaking. I’ve lost family members to cancer and it is a horrible, horrible thing.”
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