Conor McGregor’s countrymate Shauna Bannon aka ‘Mama B’ is a women’s strawweight fighter and truly lives up to her nickname. The Irish martial artist is 29 and already has a record of 5-1-0. Not only did she take over the UFC world but she also conquered motherhood with dire circumstances. Even after going through an unplanned pregnancy and fighting while still not knowing that she was 7 weeks pregnant, she is still going powerful at UFC.

She is about to fight Alice Ardelean on July 27th, 2024 so before that, let’s see how ‘Mama B’ raises her precious baby boy and sets a powerful example for other women.

How many kids does Shauna Bannon have?

The 29-year-old, from Tallaght in Dublin made her debut against Bruna Brasil at the O2. She is the second Irish female to enter the octagon since Aisling Daly. McGregor’s former teammate and ex-UFC star Paddy Holohan trains Bannon and she started kickboxing at the tender age of 3. She wanted to make her son proud and show him that anything is possible no matter the circumstances. She spent more than five years working towards her goal of getting into UFC. Unbeknownst to her, she was also pregnant while grappling, kicking, and punching Dakota Ditcheva in February 2020.

The Dubliner had not expected that she would get pregnant at 26 when she was on the cusp of making her big match in 2020. While she was gearing up for her MMA debut, her pregnancy test came back with a positive sign.  She admitted that with the isolation inside Ireland due to the lockdown and the suddenness of it all, it was hard to take. She expressed, “It was a shock. I found out at about 8 weeks and I was struggling with it, to be honest. I couldn’t accept the fact that I was pregnant,” while speaking to Gript.

Almost three years have passed and now she is a famous fighter with a professional debut in 2022. She shared about her mindset while being pregnant with Jayce Bannon. The UFC star admitted, “I just didn’t see how the pregnancy was going to be positive for me. I didn’t see any positives in it. I spoke on the live chat to someone from Gianna Care at around two in the morning, and she reassured me and put me in a positive mindset about it all.”

Not only was the pandemic a big issue, but the other hold-up was her pregnancy which she did not plan for. However, she admitted that her family and friends helped her along the way, and ‘Mama B’ got the precious gift of a lifetime in the guise of her son Jacey. She was in a relationship with Dean Barry at the time, who is also a UFC star. They were supposed to come back together at a UFC event in 2020 however Bannon could not do so.

Meanwhile, now she is a happy single mother raising her son alone while conquering the UFC world.  She was also thankful for her family and friends who helped her balance motherhood and UFC and among them, she even named Conor McGregor!

Conor McGregor’s support for Shauna Bannon

She had previously mentioned McGregor as a big support system for her. Even though he was not a part of her gym team, he was a part of team Bannon and that gave her confidence. Her son, Jayce also gave her the urge to do the best in her fights because she always wanted to make him proud.

She declared while speaking to MMA Junkie, “It’s hectic, for sure. But if I come home from my morning session and I’m wrecked, and exhausted, and I get to look at Jayce, he brightens up my day motivates me and he gets me going for my second session of the day. I think I have the best of both worlds. Some people work a 9-to-5 job and don’t get to see their kids for the full day.” 

Bannon revealed in one of her Instagram reels how she wants to make her son proud and show him that anything is possible even when the circumstances are against you. He wants her son to grow up strong knowing that no matter where people come from, hard work pays off and he is allowed to choose any path he wants.

Meanwhile, McGregor even celebrated his success with Bannon. He had shared a picture of him and ‘Mama B/  where both were holding glasses of Forged Irish Stout in their hands. ‘The Notorious’ captioned the post, “2 Gorgeous Irish Blondes, hard to beat”. 

Bannon is acing the game both inside and outside UFC while being a full-time mother. What do you think about her journey so far?