Leading up to his big comeback fight against Max Holloway at UFC 329, Conor McGregor is being open and honest about his struggles over the past several years. That\u2019s something Holloway has a lot of respect for even as the two prepare to fight on July 11th.<\/p>\n
When McGregor arrived in New York City to start a whirlwind media tour,<\/a> it was uncertain which Mac might show up. Would he be brash, funny, or aggressive? He was a little of all those, but the surprising thing was how reflective he seemed about his years at the top and subsequent fall from grace.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cGod knows my heart and the things that I\u2019ve gone through,\u201d McGregor said on the Ariel Helwani Show. \u201cI\u2019m a young man, I came into all this, I forgive myself for disgracing the position that God put me in, which I\u2019ve done many times. And I won\u2019t do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n McGregor admitted that he still struggled with his demons to this day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s akin to being on a tightrope, and the tightrope is going across this office to the next office with a very high fall,\u201d he said. \u201cThe stakes are very high. So you better stay balanced, because sometimes when you\u2019re down in a place, you don\u2019t feel anything else. You have no emotion. You\u2019re just reckless, you\u2019re going. You don\u2019t pay no attention to nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEventually, most people, they must put that work in on themselves and get themselves back into a steady state of living. That is the time where the rope is even thinner, you get me? The balance, you need to be even more balanced. Because the fall is even higher, then. If you fall when you\u2019re in this position, you don\u2019t give a f–k. You might even do it just to do it. So I\u2019m in the state now where I\u2019m keeping my balance and making my way to life, and God is helping me with that. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n In a new interview with ESPN, Max Holloway applauded Conor McGregor for opening up on his situation.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing but respect for him,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cIt takes a real man to come out and say [his] feelings, period. Especially in this day and time, right? Like, everybody\u2019s like \u2019A man got to be a man\u2019s man.<\/a> You gotta suck it up.\u2019 Don\u2019t be \u2026 whatever they say nowadays. I can\u2019t say what I\u2019m usually told because I\u2019d get cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, they\u2019re like, \u2018Don\u2019t do that. Don\u2019t do this. You got to be a man. Suck it up and go get it done.\u2019 So with him, especially with the power he has and him bringing it up, I think it\u2019s going to encourage more people to talk about it, more guys to maybe go get a mental check or self-check. And shout out to him for doing that cuz there\u2019s a lot of people that deal with this that don\u2019t know, and people that probably look up to him [will] be like, \u2018What? Conor\u2019s going through this? Then that means I can come and try to tell somebody about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo nothing but claps for him for doing that,\u201d Holloway concluded. \u201cCuz that takes a real man to come and talk about one\u2019s feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n