Conor McGregor is as polarising as it gets – this is how we strike the right tone in our sports coverage
Editor’s Letter: Covering the UFC star’s sporting achievements while acknowledging his notorious life outside the Octagon is a delicate balancing act
At the weekend Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the UFC by defeating Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds in Las Vegas. Unless this is your first time on the internet or you happen to live under a rock, you are most likely already aware of this fact.
You are also most likely aware that McGregor’s list of legal indiscretions is almost as long as his professional mixed-martial arts record (22 wins, 4 losses) and far longer than his professional boxing one (0-1). In 2018 he was charged with three counts of assault and one of criminal mischief for throwing a sack trolley through a Brooklyn bus window. Last March he was charged with strong-armed robbery for taking a fan’s phone and smashing it on the ground. And in November he pleaded guilty to assault after he was recorded punching an elderly man in a Dublin pub and was fined €1,000 (£850).
The senior citizen’s crime? Rejecting a glass of McGregor’s own brand of whiskey.
There are also other pending legal investigations which The Independent and other British media outlets are unable to report on. Not to mention the numerous controversies that did not wind up in a court room: the accusations of sexism and racism which should shock and offend, but in our 21st-century sporting landscape seem to amuse and titillate and some.
But is any of this really relevant to Saturday night’s fight?
That depends on a few different things. Some would argue that it doesn’t – that McGregor is successful not because of his moral compass but his ability to render people unconscious. Others may, however, feel uneasy that this weekend’s deluge of positive coverage effectively obfuscates his crimes and diminishes his victims.
At The Independent, a socially progressive publication with an increasingly worldwide audience, we are of course aware that we have readers on both side of this divide. We know a significant part of our audience both enjoys watching and reading about MMA, while many more still enjoy watching and reading about McGregor. And, as one of the most popular and influential sportspeople of the 21st century, we are therefore obliged to cover his many achievements and exploits. That’s sport.
But sport does not take place in a vacuum. And to blithely report on McGregor’s glittering sporting achievements without also reporting on and referencing the far murkier aspects of his life would be both journalistically inadequate and morally wrong.
That is why, along with a fight report and numerous analysis and reaction pieces that documented McGregor’s most recent success, we have also run stories on his legal troubles, scrutinised his complex legacy and published an extract from the Irish journalist Ewan MacKenna’s new book, Chaos is a Friend of Mine: The Life and Crimes of Conor McGregor. “McGregor has become a representation of the ills of modern society,” MacKenna writes. “A microcosm of the anger and rage that has seen politics swerve so far to the right. And a mirror of the need and the greed in a society where your earnings matter far more than your morals ever could.”
McGregor is a hero to many. He is a villain to many more. And we hope our coverage over the past few days has reflected and illuminated this polarity.
Yours,
Luke Brown
Sports reporter
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