For his Sake, Conor McGregor Should Pick a Side

The other night UFC superstar Conor McGregor allegedly smashed then stole some dude’s smartphone. McGregor was subsequently arrested, released. His actions were rebuked by some and defended by others.

The “dude” in question was said to have been following McGregor around in a nightclub, angling for photos and videos. And he was attempting the same tactic just outside of the club when McGregor had presumably had enough of the unwanted attention.

There is no bigger combat sports athlete than Conor McGregor. Period. Despite not having won a fight since 2016, the former double-champ still lives a high profile, high stakes life. And existing on a plain where everyone is always watching must do a number on the psyche.

What’s clear to me now is that McGregor can no longer walk the line between man-of-the-world and man-of-the-people. He must pick a side and learn to navigate it wisely, using whatever of his wealth is required to protect that desired lifestyle.

If McGregor doesn’t make an adjustment now, then we can be sure to expect more of these boil-over moments in the future. Not because McGregor is by nature a hothead, but because McGregor is a human being.

It’s easy to imagine being a superstar. Who hasn’t played out making the winning shot or giving the big acceptance speech? Pretending to win is painless. Pretending to be followed, ogled, harassed, no one clears out space in their imagination for that darkness.

When years of hard work pays off, like it did for McGregor, the adoration must be all at once thrilling and overwhelming. As the profile grows and the star power rises, the pros and cons of life under the spotlight begin to materialize.

For McGregor, an astute and clever businessman who leveraged his MMA fame to generate worldwide megastar status, the true picture is coming into cold-hard focus. His public life is no longer his own.

Every outing, every interaction, every response must be carefully measured. And not because McGregor cannot be trusted to say the right thing, or because he cannot be trusted to control his temper, but because we as fans cannot be trusted to encounter McGregor, or any celebrity, with civility.

There does exist a symbiosis between the celebrity and the fan. Fame is a product of fandom and it cannot survive without a steady supply of attention. But as a society, we’ve become obsessed with upstaging each other through social media. And this has caused the function of fandom to devolve into a distasteful scramble for affirmation from total strangers.

As a species, we are walking around with smartphones for eyes, consumed with capturing and posting, recording and publishing. Hearts and Likes are how we measure success and popularity.

Rather than just being a good story to tell, or even better, a meaningful encounter with actual conversation, spotting a celebrity in public has become like a game of Pokemon Go, with fans, or pseudo-fans, invading the physical and emotional space of a famous person in order to capture proof of a sighting.

So why is the onus on McGregor to change and not on us, the fans? It’s simply about the numbers. There’s only one Conor McGregor, but there’s a bajillion of us. For his sake, McGregor should just make the call, pick a side, and learn to live in a whole new world. We may not like it, but hopefully McGregor will.