Controversial MMA fighter Conor McGregor has claimed that Ireland is ‘losing its Irishness’ as he sat down with US commentator Tucker Carlson to discuss immigration and his unlikely bid to become president.
Speaking in an interview with conservative Carlson, which aired on Friday, the UFC champion did not hold back when it came to discussing his hard-line stance on migration.
‘[It] is changing the fabric of my country’, he said while being interviewed in his Dublin pub by the former Fox news host.
McGregor criticised governmental ‘overspending’ and alleged that public funds were being used to support illegal immigrants.
‘That is one my issues here. The people of Ireland, the overspending, that’s going on,’ the MMA fighter said.
‘This is our public wealth being administered into private hands, enriching people to bring in this influx of illegal mass migration that is changing the fabric of my country.
He added: ‘Ireland is very close to losing its Irishness and we will not let that happen.’
McGregor also vowed to stop the ‘genocide of our people’ after he claimed that immigration into Ireland had made its people feel like ‘third-rate citizens in their own country’.
Controversial MMA fighter Conor McGregor told American commentator Tucker Carlson that Ireland was losing its Irishness thanks to immigration
McGregor’s anti-immigration remarks come after he announced his bid to become president last month
‘You talk about a genocide. This is a genocide of our people. This is an attempted erasure of our people’, he declared.
He went on to say that it was ‘taboo’ to speak about the erasure of Irish culture, claiming that the government elite were to blame.
‘They use harassment, intimidation tactics, they use our funds to pay traditional media to push an agenda’, McGregor said, adding that Irish politicians were to blame for the erasure of Irish culture.
‘It is an abomination, its a travesty’, he added.
Carlson chimed in, telling McGregor that Irish people were being replaced by migrants.
‘You have a very distinctive, thousand-year-old culture based on Irishness – the indigenous population of this island – and they are being replaced at a super high speed’, the commentator said.
McGregor’s anti-immigration remarks come after he announced his bid to become president last month.
But during the interview, he admitted to Carlson that his plan to run for office is unlikely to get off the ground.
The UFC champion said there are ‘stipulations’ for running for presidential office, such as needed to be backed by four county councils or receiving 20 nominations from members of the Oireachtas, Ireland’s parliament.
‘So you can’t just run for president?’ the former Fox News host, apparently shocked by the fighter’s remarks, questioned in the trailer promoting his upcoming interview with McGregor. ‘So how is it a democracy?’
McGregor hosted US TV host Tucker Carlson at his pub in Crumlin, south Dublin, on Tuesday
McGregor put out an open invitation to his supporters to join them at the pub and was pictured pouring pints behind the bar
On Tuesday night, former Fox News host Carlson, who is also a staunch Trump supporter, conducted a two-hour interview with McGregor on the topic of immigration
‘We are not a democratic country,’ McGregor replied. ‘And they will have to answer to their constituents at some stage. There will be accountability.’
Carlson, however, pushed back, asking McGregor: ‘Are you going to do it anyway? You’re maybe the most famous living Irishman and you’re saying things that the overwhelming majority of your politicians will not say.
‘What do you think they’re going to do to you if you keep talking this way?’
McGregor, saying he is not even ‘an iota’ fearful, starkly answered: ‘Attempt to tarnish as they are. I move forward under God, and my nation can see.’
McGregor has received endorsements from misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and tech billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk, and his anti-immigration stance has seen him welcomed with open arms by the MAGA movement.
The 36-year-old is currently appealing the result of a civil case after a jury in Dublin found he had raped a woman, Nikita Hand, in 2018 and ordered him to pay damages.
In the midst of this legal controversy, he was invited to the White House by Trump for St Patrick’s Day – a move that was met with condemnation from Irish politicians and many members of the public. Just days later, he announced his wish to be president.
Ahead of their interview on Tuesday, McGregor took Carlson, who is a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump, on a tour of the Irish capital and its parliament buildings, with the pair trailed by an entourage and a Rolls-Royce as they walked the city’s streets.
McGregor is currently appealing the result of a civil case after a jury in Dublin found he had raped a woman, Nikita Hand, in 2018 and ordered him to pay damages. Pictured with his partner Dee Devlin and mother Margaret outside the High Court in Dublin, November 22, 2024
They later met at the Black Forge Inn, the fighter’s pub in Crumlin, south Dublin, with a crowd of McGregor’s supporters – including some wearing MAGA hats – taking free pints poured by the UFC fighter.
Before the pub gathering, McGregor put out an open invitation to his more than 10 million X followers, writing that there would be ‘live music, top tier food, great drink, great people, and a happy and celebratory atmosphere’.
He announced to those attending that there would be a free bar and was pictured pouring pints of his own-brand stout. At one point he offered one to Carlson, a teetotaler, who declined.
McGregor welcomed the chance to be interviewed by Carlson, who famously sat down with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and conducted the first on-camera interview with Trump after his recent election.
