Before rising to become the Irish megastar with a net worth reaching hundreds of millions, Conor McGregor’s journey was far from glamorous. At the age of 17, McGregor relocated from Crumlin to Lucan, Dublin, Ireland. There he started working as an apprentice plumber.
In 2006, McGregor started on his MMA journey by training alongside fellow enthusiast Tom Egan. Two years later, he made his professional debut on the regional Irish scene. This marked the inception of McGregor’s iconic career, laying the foundation for what would later become a remarkable story in the world of combat sports.
Conor McGregor made his debut inside the Octagon against Marcus Brimage in 2013 at an event that was shown by Fuel TV.
Even the most successful have humble beginnings, and McGregor is no exception. In an interview with GQ Sports, McGregor candidly shared his early experiences. He admitted to rocking a fake Rolex before achieving fame.
McGregor humorously stated, “You ever hear the term, you gotta fake it til you make it? Before anything, I was getting the fake ones. I was rockin’ the fake ones proud. Funny enough, my first ever real watch that I got was a gift post-UFC Dublin, which was in [2014] and it was a gift for me from Lorenzo Fertitta who was the owner of the UFC at the time. He gifted me a solid gold Rolex Sky Dweller.”
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani previously compared Pimblett’s situation to that of Conor McGregor back in 2012. McGregor was also a Cage Warriors champion coming into the UFC:
“If he [Pimblett] lost that fight, he was only getting $12,000, incredible number for a name like him,” Ariel told his audience during an episode of The MMA Hour.
“for a guy who’s making that kind of buzz, when you go back to Conor’s second fight back in 2013 against Max Holloway… Conor made $12K and $12K.”
Following a successful event where he secured a knockout in the first round, McGregor received an actual Rolex as a gift. Lorenzo Fertitta presented McGregor with a solid gold Rolex Sky Dweller.
“So after the belt, I won the belt. Got a knockout in the first round. It was a mega-successful event. We all went out to dinner after with the Fertitta family and they gifted me this Rolex. It was my first real watch. Before that, I was at the press conference wearing a fake one. You gotta fake it til you make it.”
Rolex 2014 Sky dweller will set you back around $15,000.
Fast forward to 2024, Conor McGregor stands as a force to be reckoned with, holding the record for eight out of the 10 highest-grossing pay-per-views of all time. His epic showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov remains a historic moment, with the promotion exceeding two million buys.
Despite a hiatus since his leg injury in the trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021, UFC CEO Dana White assures fans that McGregor will grace the cage once again in 2024.