He seems to be everywhere—everywhere except where it matters, at least for fight fans. We’re, of course, talking about ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. Business owner, bare-knuckle promoter, and now President of Ireland? Yep, that’s what the Irish superstar wants to do next. Once a specialist known for one thing—fighting—Conor McGregor is now a jack of all trades. Of course, he isn’t mediocre by any measure, given how much money he’s made, and continues to make despite his troubles. And McGregor’s bid to become the leader of Ireland has gained momentum especially with his visit to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day.

At the White House, the former UFC champ called out the Irish ruling party for what he thinks is their mismanagement of public issues and ascertained that he would be the solution to this mess. Days later, McGregor took to his X handle to announce that he would be making progress in his presidential candidature, “Ireland, the choice is yours and it is an easy one. Vote for me as your President and we will SAVE IRELAND TOGETHER!”

As things started to get a little bit more interesting, former champions, Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman came forward to give their own analogy to the entire fiasco. While having a conversation on their podcast, Pound-4-Pound, Usman brought up Conor McGregor in the White House and Cejudo couldn’t help but admire the former UFC champ in calling out the entire parliament.

‘Triple C’ said, “You know what? I actually applaud Conor for that, man. For him to, you know, and he put his President on blast, bro. He was like ‘He ain’t doing s–t.’ Like, you know, he did in a political way, but he was right, man. I think the fact that Conor McGregor wants to go out there. It just says a lot about the sport of mixed martial arts.”

Now the question remains, how will Conor McGregor clean his image? How will he regain the trust of the masses? Well, according to Henry Cejudo, the former UFC double champ should take mentorship for the POTUS for his Ireland campaign, “If you’re mentored by President Trump, dude, President Trump would do something like that. But I just don’t know if Conor really has that IQ or that desire to do it.”

Chiming in, Kamaru Usman stated that Conor McGregor should clean up his past in order to make waves in a potential political career, “I think, yeah, listen, anybody can be anything that they want to be in this life. That’s a proven thing. If Conor could clean up himself and clean up some of the things because when you are a politician, you’re not just for yourself.” 

If he does enter politics, his fighting future might be all but finished. Unless, of course, he pulls off a Manny Pacquiao, who served as a member of the House of Representatives (2010-2016) and the Senate (2016-2022) in the Philippines, while actively pursuing his boxing career. Even if McGregor can manage both, the main question is—is he eligible to run for office?

Is Conor McGregor eligible to become the Irish presidential run?

So what are the criteria to become the President of Ireland? To contest the elections, a candidate must be a citizen of Ireland at first and they should be at least 35 years old. Conor McGregor meets both requirements. However, one criterion that might pose a strong hurdle for the Irish mixed martial artist in his quest to become the next Irish President.

To enter the Irish presidential race, a candidate needs a nomination from either a minimum of four local councils or at least 20 members of the House of the Oireachtas. However, Conor McGregor’s chances of securing a nomination are quite slim. The primary obstacle? Most Oireachtas members are aligned with political parties, making it unlikely that they would support an independent candidate like McGregor. This significantly diminishes his prospects in the race.

Celebrated political scientist, professor Gail McElroy gave his input in the hubbub, he argued in an interview with Sky News, “There’s two hurdles. First, you have to get nominated and then you have to win a majority of the vote. Both of those hurdles are almost insurmountable. There’s a lot of [Oireachtas members] – 60 senators and 174 TDs [Irish MPs], but most of those are party affiliated and they won’t nominate [McGregor].”

What do you think? Will Conor McGregor find his time in the Sun, when it comes to Irish politics? Will we soon see ‘The Notorious’ as the Irish President someday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.