​LAS VEGAS — Despite the UFC’s Hall of Fame ceremony kicking off three hours earlier, fans still trickled into T-Mobile Arena just minutes before Conor McGregor arrived for the UFC 329 press conference on Thursday. With no sense of direction 30 minutes prior, I latched onto a group of thirty-somethings led by a man sporting a weathered “You’ll do f**kin’ nothing” McGregor T-shirt, using them like a compass to guide me through the night.
I followed them through Aria and into Park MGM, where concession stands displayed McGregor merchandise prominently alongside UFC Freedom 250 fight kits. The venue carried hints of green and a few tricolors, but nothing compared to the emerald seas that once flooded the scene in 2015 when “The Notorious” defeated Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo to ascend as the UFC’s featherweight king. That electric McGregor fight-week energy wasn’t as palpable this time, yet a sizable crowd still pressed into the arena, with its immense footprint dampening the bite of the foot traffic. Still, the roar that greeted McGregor as he appeared on stage echoed through the arena’s thick walls, reaffirming his status as the UFC’s defining mainstream icon.
“This is why I’m back, for the love of the game and the love of the fans,” the Irish star proclaimed. “It’s great to be back here in Vegas, five years out, but I’ve been fighting since I came out of the womb, and I’ll be fighting until the day I go out!”
While the crowd’s enthusiasm for McGregor’s comeback hasn’t been mirrored by all in Ireland, there have been notable exceptions to the wave of celebration stateside. Earlier this week, The Burren bar in the Bronx—a well-known sanctuary for the Irish diaspora—announced via Facebook that it would not show his return bout. “We’ve collectively decided as owners to follow the lead of numerous Irish pubs, retailers, and boxing clubs that have chosen to dissociate from [McGregor] after he was found civilly liable for rape and assault,” the post stated.
Not all venues in Las Vegas are joining that sentiment, however. Rí Rá at Mandalay Bay chose a more cautious stance, signaling they expect a much smaller turnout for Saturday’s record-breaking event than in McGregor’s peak years. “We are showing it, but the cost of it this year is extremely high compared to what it usually is,” said Scott Sherman, the venue’s general manager, speaking to the Irish Mirror. “Normally we would be showing it to the entire pub, but this year we’ll only have the back portion open, so the most we’ll have watching it is 299 people.”
McGregor’s star power remains unrivaled, and the sport’s fixation with him endures, even as perceptions shift. The ongoing dialogue around his return reflects a broader tension between admiration for his abilities and controversy surrounding his personal conduct. For McGregor fans and MMA enthusiasts alike, the spectacle around UFC 329 underscores how the sport’s romance with its biggest name continues to drive attention, revenue, and global reach, regardless of scattered pockets of dissent. As the press conference wrapped and the arena settled into its cadence, the unmistakable voice of “The Notorious” lingered in the air, a reminder that his influence on the sport—and its fan culture—endures beyond the octagon.