McGregor on historic Irish vote for same sex marriage: 'We all deserve equal rights'
As Conor McGregor has climbed the featherweight ladder in his UFC career, he has made sure to tell the entire world why he is already the greatest fighter on the planet.
The combination of skill and confidence has McGregor now 17-2 and booked to face Jose Aldo in the main event at July's UFC 189 in Las Vegas. Yet through all that success, one thing that has matched, if not surpassed, the 26-year-old's meteoric rise is the level of success and popularity he has reached all over the world, particularly in his home country of Ireland.
In his homeland, McGregor is already one of the most recognizable and talked about stars in all of sports.
But unlike many athletes who avoid getting involved in political issues while trying to avoid alienating any section of their fan base, McGregor isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes in. That is why he tweeted a message to his 472,000-plus Twitter followers urging the people of Ireland to get out and support the vote for equality on Friday.
Myself and my team are urging everyone to please VOTE YES TO EQUALITY! Every human deserves equal rights #WeAreAllOne pic.twitter.com/PbyTXNHzKQ
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 19, 2015
Ireland has the chance on Friday to become the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular vote. If the referendum passes, it will become part of the constitution, making gay marriage legal throughout the Emerald Isle.
McGregor says the issue was brought up to him by his head coach John Kavanaugh. When McGregor really started to think about it, the UFC's top contender at 145 pounds realized it was a no brainer to support the vote for equality.
"My coach is really big in protesting for it and he was explaining it to me. We all deserve equal rights. We are all human beings at the end of the day, regardless of color, gender, sexuality, that's all meaningless, we're all human. We all deserve the same rights so it just feels right to me," McGregor told FOX Sports on Thursday.
"There's a big vote coming up and I can put something out and it can reach a lot of people so I decided that it was the right thing to do. My whole team done it with me. We are proud to support that."
Polls from Ireland show the popular vote is currently trending towards marriage equality becoming law, but that could all change if enough people don't get out and let their voices be heard.
McGregor hopes when he goes to bed on Friday after the vote in Ireland is complete that his country will have a new law in place that gives everybody there the right to get married regardless of who they choose to marry.
"It's a huge day. I hope (it passes), we will see," McGregor said. "I just hope people get up and vote. If I was there I would get up and vote, but I am not in Dublin at the moment. I hope it does (pass). The support for the yes vote has been phenomenal."
The historic vote almost seems archaic to McGregor, who doesn't understand why this really should be an issue in the first place.
He supports marriage equality just like he supports equality for everybody around the world and he's not sure why anyone would be against it.
"It's Stone Age s**t," McGregor said. "It's a new age. It's time to get with it."
