PHOTOGRAPHER Dave Fogarty imagined a career in professional MMA – until Conor McGregor called.
The Irishman was an amateur champion with world and European medals to his name.
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And while training to be a wrestler, he picked up the camera as a hobby to do while at the gym and photographed local Irish shows.
That’s how he was introduced to McGregor – who later became his boss after the UFC icon offered him a job as his personal photographer.
Fogarty, 34, told SunSport: “I definitely could have turned pro.
“It was definitely planned and something I thought about, but when my amateur career came to an end was when I started working full-time for Conor.
“The time commitment working with Conor wouldn’t work with the full-time commitment of doing professional MMA.
“So obviously I chose to continue working with Conor.”
Despite abandoning his fighting career, Fogarty never left MMA.
That’s because he’s on call 24/7 with McGregor, which means he’s always in the gym and at the biggest fights in the world.
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Fogarty is among McGregor’s most trusted confidants.
The talented snapper is part of McGregor’s core team, which travels the world with him.
Fogarty teams up with nutritionist Tristan Kennedy and strength coach Julian Dalby, along with a padman and masseuse wherever McGregor goes.
He said: “The man does not take vacations, he does not take vacations. He is always doing something, when he is away, the team is always away with him.
“As he says, there is a gym on the yacht. Even though he’s on his yacht, he’s still training. He trains all year round. It’s great to be surrounded by that.”
Fogarty – who has continued training since his last MMA fight in 2017 – captured McGregor’s meteoric rise through his lens.
He revealed: “It’s crazy. When you take a step back and see what it must be like for him.
“Because when all this is going on, I’m just in work mode, making sure I take the photos and take care of everything.
“So to take a step back and see this is what he does, day in and day out. This is his life, it’s crazy.
Conor wears different hats. You can be around him sometimes and he’s Conor, his friend and you’re having fun. And then, when it’s time to start work and he becomes the boss.
Conor McGregor’s photographer Dave Fogarty
“It becomes normal until you take a step back and realize it’s not normal.”
Fogarty teased that an upcoming project he worked on with McGregor will be released soon.
And he explained how his close friend can quickly switch to a strict boss at any time.
He said: “Conor wears different hats. You can be around him sometimes and he’s Conor, his friend and you’re having fun.
“And then when it comes time to start work and he becomes the boss, there are times when I’m taking photos and that hasn’t been his vision.
“And he told me about it. He warns me, this is when Conor is the boss.
“But there are times when he loves the photos and we are having fun.
“There are times when he is Conor McGregor, head of McGregor Sports & Entertainment or Claymore Productions.
‘I took it all in’
“I don’t want people to tell me all the time that my photos are great, they’re not always great, nobody’s are.
“I think it’s important to have that relationship.”
Fogarty will now rely on McGregor’s experience as he prepares to return his fight – this time in the boxing ring.
He has signed with Misfits Boxing – home of celebrity crossover fights – and faces lightweight champion Deen the Great on August 31 in Dublin.
Fogarty will be trained by McGregor’s first trainer, Irish boxing great Phil Sutcliffe.
When traveling with McGregor, he will work with the same trainers and recovery team hired by the UFC legend.
He will then return to do his sparring under the watchful eye of two-time Olympian Sutcliffe.
Fogarty isn’t ruling out McGregor coming in to support tonight and will make use of everything he’s learned over the years while observing his boss.
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He said: “I took it all in. I structured my training camp exactly the same way I saw Conor structure his. That’s where I got the project from.
“It’s a very precise, measured, calculated way of doing it and it’s the ideal way to do it.
“Obviously, being around Conor and seeing how he did it is what I will do. He is one of the best minds in the history of combat sports.
“He’s a phenomenal coach, you saw on The Ultimate Fighter how dedicated he is, how dedicated and enthusiastic he is.
“I learned a lot from him, being around and seeing how he sets up his training camps.
“It’s been a huge inspiration for how I’m going to do this.”
Fogarty will challenge for Deen’s lightweight belt and is preparing to face an undefeated, bold-talking American.
He said: “I said it from the start, he’s good. I’m not going to take anything away from him or discredit him.
“He’s a good fighter, a little chatty, a little arrogant and arrogant, but hey, he’s a good boxer. He has strength in both hands, moves his head well, moves his feet well.
“So I think it’s a great challenge and the hardest fight in the category to be champion. But I’m here for big fights and big opportunities.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
