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No, Wait, Dublin Will, in Fact, Be Honoring Conor McGregor

Sometimes change and acceptance needs a push.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Christ, I was starting to wonder what a man had to do to get himself a parade in this town.

Despite the fact that Conor McGregor did the impossible last weekend and knocked out Jose Aldo to win the undisputed UFC featherweight championship belt, and despite the fact that he did it in record-breaking fashion (shortest UFC title fight in history, biggest U.S. attendance record in history, most knockouts in featherweight division history, most consecutive Performance of the Night bonuses in history, etc.), and despite the fact that McGregor's victory makes him inarguably the Republic of Ireland's biggest active sports star and arguably its biggest ever (with apologies to Roy Keane), and despite the fact that Ireland routinely fêtes its rugby teams and Gaelic football teams and little-known Olympians and even its middling soccer teams with homecoming receptions and ceremonies (Fightland's and Ireland's own Peter Carroll told me, "Our soccer team are absolutely shit but if they reach a quarter final the whole country will shut down when they come home"), up until just a few hours ago, the City of Dublin had no plans to honor Conor McGregor—champion of the whole damn world—when he returns home from Las Vegas this week. The Conquering Hero, unhailed by his own.

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According to the Irish Examiner, as of yesterday a spokesperson for the Dublin City Council was saying that there were "no plans in place for a reception for McGregor." Meanwhile the Irish Independent was reporting that the new champion "could" be in line for a reception homecoming if the Dublin Lord Mayor, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, could be convinced of the idea by city councilors and the South East Area Committee at a City Council meeting tomorrow.

But Conor McGregor fans in Ireland, who have become used to quick victories (13 seconds!), apparently have no patience for the slow-turning wheels of municipal governance. Yesterday, one of those McGregor faithful, a Wexford woman named Paula Keville, started an online petition calling on the Dublin City Council to hold a coming-home ceremony for the new champion. Within a day that petition had nearly 20,000 signatures, 5000 short of its goal but enough to move the people's government to action.

This morning (or this afternoon, depending on whether you're a McGregor fan in the U.S. or dear old Dublin), the City Council announced that it will, in fact, be holding a civic reception in the city to honor McGregor. After discussing the idea with McGregor and his management team (who were undoubtedly busy fielding calls from Mark Wahlberg and the rest of Hollywood), the Council said the reception will be held sometime at the end of January. In a statement released yesterday, Lord Mayor Dhálaigh wrote, "I am delighted to honour Conor McGregor, Word Champion, in his home city of Dublin and acknowledge his wonderful achievement in the sport of UFC."

Okay, yes, I know, I know: There is nothing more maddening for MMA fans than hearing their beloved sport referred to "UFC." And yes, sometimes it feels like non-MMA fans (like Lord Dhálaigh?) know this and just love intentionally mixing up the two to drive us crazy and to wink at the world that they know nothing about this brutish sport they're being forced by circumstance to talk about. But patience, fellow MMA lovers. Before Conor McGregor appeared there was a barely an Irish MMA scene to speak of, surely not one the world was aware of, and now he's the country's, and the sport's, biggest man, a force impossible to ignore. Enlightening the Críona Ní Dhálaighs of the world takes time.

Any longtime fan of MMA (anyone who remembers a time before Ronda Rousey and Reebok and Fox Sports and The Ultimate Fighter and even unified rules), knows that change happens slowly and that evolution and acceptance are incremental. But they're also inevitable. Conor McGregor may be a rare Cambrian explosion, when evolution occurs in a sudden burst, but he's still part of a greater, slower movement. Today a begrudgingly granted civic reception from the Dublin City Council, tomorrow the world.