Conor McGregor Makes Unexpected Gesture for ‘Iconic Irish Kid’ Nate Kelly Years After Viral UFC Press Conference

In 2015, at the UFC 194 press conference, an adorable ten-year-old Irish kid named Nate Kelly promised Conor McGregor and Dana White that he would become an MMA world champion one day. And Kelly, seemingly, is on his way to coming through on the promise he made to the two most iconic men in MMA. And so he has some help. In what must be a dream for any up-and-coming martial artist, ‘The Great’ has the distinction of being hyped by the biggest mixed martial artist ever, Conor McGregor himself.

Kelly, who has been doing the rounds of the amateur MMA circuit and fought at Bellator and PFL, seems poised to take the plunge into professional mixed martial arts. And to give him some well-deserved eyeballs and create some buzz around him is ‘The Notorious’, who, on his Instagram Story shared part of a video from Kelly’s Instagram page, showing the latter’s journey from training as a young child to now, competing at some of the biggest MMA promotions in the world. “What a rise! Nate ‘The Great’ Kelly,” Mac wrote as the caption on his Instagram story.

While Kelly has had a lot of hype, he is still an amateur with five fights, two of which he has lost. And while some may want to write him off for this, a 3-2 record is not as bad as it may seem at first glance for a very simple reason. His unsuccessful debut and third amateur fight is more or less par for the course for fighters starting off their competitive careers. This is because the intensity and qualia of being in the octagon simply cannot be replicated in practice or hard sparring.

Since then, however, he has shown significant improvements and has two wins at PFL and the Bellator. While Kelly seems to be gearing up to take off in a major way and is working very hard towards it, fans have suggested Conor McGregor do the same after he was seen partying late into the night recently ahead of his much-awaited comeback.

Conor McGregor under fire for partying late

It is no secret that Conor McGregor likes to live the high life and party. Growing up in poverty, at times even homeless, the Irishman has, through his blood, sweat, tears, and business savvy, managed to become the wealthiest, highest-paid mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. One of his most beloved business ventures, of course, is ‘The Black Forge Inn’, where he was partying until after 2 in the morning a few days ago.

Predictably, this did not go down well with the fans, who felt this shows ‘Mac’s lack of discipline. The former two-division champion is gearing up to face Michael Chandler in barely four weeks at the top of UFC 303. Along with capping off the UFC’s annual marquee International Fight Week, the bout will be ‘Mac’s return to the octagon after three years of inactivity.

With the Irishman’s career being on a clear downward slope in recent years, with only one win in the past six years, along with a very serious injury at his last octagon appearance in 2021, many feel he should be living a clean and disciplined lifestyle if he wants to have any chance of winning at UFC 303.

Do you think Kelly can make it big in the MMA world? Drop your predictions in the comments below.