All the around the world, each and every day, professionals, CEOs, executives, teams, athletes and business owners are seeking out coaches to help create them into the best versions of themselves, both professionally and personally. I witnessed this in action last Saturday at UFC 246 when Connor McGregor, “The Notorious One” reentered the octagon to have his hands raised in victory once again. Only this time he was much more grounded and connected to the experience.
Connor McGregor was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1988. At the age of 12, he started boxing. At the age of 17, he started practicing mixed martial arts. At the age of 18, he had his first fight in the MMA, and won with a first-round, TKO, and went pro.
In 2008, Connor won his first professional fight with a first-round knockout. Growing up, Connor McGregor had two mentors that he admired. One was Bruce Lee, for his speed and fluidness in the ring. And interesting enough the other was Muhammad Ali, for his trash-talking and the ability to back it up.
In 2013, Dana White and the UFC came calling and in his first professional fight with the UFC, Connor scored a first-round knockout. In 2015, UFC 194, Connor McGregor fought for the featherweight title and beat Jose Aldo in 13 seconds of the first round with a knockout. In 2016, UFC 205, Connor went the distance with the then lightweight championship and also won that title to become the only fighter in history to own two different championship belts in two different divisions. Connor McGregor was now on top of the world. Only his ego, unfortunately, got the better of him.
Connor started doing things that didn’t serve himself, his family or his community. Connor was not showing up as the best version of himself. He went on his worldwide marketing tour of fighting Floyd Mayweather, of which both made millions upon millions of dollars. Due to Connor’s inactivity, the UFC got frustrated and ended up stripping him of both his lightweight and the featherweight titles.
Then once again, Connor reentered the ring in 2018, only to lose in a fourth-round submission to the then champion, only for a post-fight brawl to break out, where both fighters were suspended.
Connor McGregor realizes at that point that he was not exhibiting himself as his best version. He knew for things to change that he had to change, and he sought out a coach. He connected with Tony Robbins and has been working with Tony Robbins for a year. He actually had a coaching session with Tony the day prior to his fight, to make sure he was in the right mindset and was focused only on how to show up and do it right.
Connor McGregor on Saturday, January 18th, beat Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in 40 seconds of the first round to once again have his hands raised in victory. And only this time Connor did it right.
I share this story because each and every one of us have our highs and our lows both in business and life. To be the best version of ourselves day-in and day-out, we simply can’t do it alone. We need to seek out a mentor or a coach that has the willingness and the guts to ask us the tough questions and guide us to where we sometimes might not want to go on our own.
I speak for myself as I have a couple of coaches and it’s been extremely beneficial. I’m grateful for the opportunity to coach my clients and witness the type of results they’re getting from their path and journey.
Connor McGregor, I applaud you. All those of you who have coaches and mentors, I applaud you. All those of you that don’t have coaches or mentors, I encourage you to seek out a coach or a mentor to help you become the best version of yourself, so you can show up the way you want to show up each and every day as your absolute best. This way when you raise your hands in victory, you and everyone else will know that you did it right!