Conor Wallace goes from cornering Conor McGregor, to world title contention
Seven years ago, he was part of UFC history, now Conor Wallace is plotting his own path to the top ahead of his clash with Mose Auimatagi in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
In August 2016, a wide-eyed young boxer clutched an Irish flag and peered over the top of the Octagon wall ahead of the most memorable UFC fight ever.
Conor Wallace, then just 20, was a decorated Irish amateur and had been hand-picked by Conor McGregor to help him prepare for his UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz.
Wallace had thought the sparring would be the extent of it – a highlight in itself – but when they were hanging out at McGregor’s house a few days before the fight, the MMA superstar turned to Wallace and said, “How would you feel about being in my corner for the fight?”
He didn’t need to think twice.
“I was like, ‘f**k yeah, I’ll be in the corner’,” he remembers.
It remains “the maddest experience of my life,” he adds, even if his new-found fame meant he wasn’t able to attend McGregor’s after-party.
“I couldn’t get in because I was only 20 at the time,” he says of the celebrations following McGregor’s majority decision win in what is widely considered one of the greatest UFC fights ever.
“I had been able to get in places before the fight, but then there were all these stories with ‘McGregor’s 20-year-old sparring partner’ and stuff.
“When I got to the after-party, they were like, ‘You’re Conor, you were in his corner, you were his sparring partner’ and they wouldn’t let me in!”
Seven years on, Wallace says he still gets regular messages of support from The Notorious as the Brisbane-based southpaw plots his own path towards boxing world titles.
He’ll take the next step on that journey against the rugged Mose Auimatagi in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
“We’ve kept in touch,” Wallace says of McGregor. “He’s interested in how I’m going and he always congratulates me after fights.
“He’s a really good fella.”
He still carries memories and lessons from that eight week training camp.
“Seeing what it was like at that top level gives you that hunger,” he says. “They’d always use me for media stuff as well, because I was the most like Diaz with that tall southpaw frame.
“When we got to the walkout, the ground was just vibrating. I carried out the flag and we met Kanye West as well. It was unbelievable.”
His time spent with McGregor wasn’t Wallace’s first brush with combat sport superstardom.
When he was 13, he’d run into Tyson Fury and the rest of the Fury clan at various amateur fights.
“He was a big name, but not as big as he is now,” Wallace says. “They’d come over and fight on our amateur shows – Tyson, his brother and his cousin Hughie.
“It was a great connection with their team.”
It led to a funny reunion earlier this year when Fury was in Melbourne supporting his good mate Joseph Parker.
Wallace showed Fury a throwback photo of the pair, with the Gypsy King remembering the young fighter and remarking: “Fookin’ hell, I had hair there!”
“He remembered me from back then,” Wallace says. “That was too funny.
“You look up to what he’s done, coming back from the shape he was in and all that other stuff. It’s an inspiration.”
This Wednesday’s fights at Fortitude Valley Music Hall might not be as big as a McGregor or Fury fight, but it’s a vital part of Wallace’s march to the top of the light-heavyweight division.
Trained by Greg Eadie and Fortitude Boxing and managed by Stephen Deller, Wallace is ranked in the top 15 with the WBC, WBA and IBF, and with an 11-1 record, is preparing to make the next step.
“A win here sets up a massive 2024, and each fight is building towards a world title,” he says. “I’m not a million miles away.
“But I need to gauge myself at that level. I’ve only had 12 fights, so there’s a difference between where I am now and the top guys.
“But I’m definitely not overlooking Mose either. It’s not an easy fight, he’s a good opponent and he’s dangerous. I need to be switched on.”
Having claimed the IBF Pan Pacific title in 2022, Wallace is the top-ranked light heavyweight in Australia and has a target on his back.
So much so that 6-0 former Olympian Paulo Aokuso has been known to want a fight.
It’s a showdown Wallace would agree to.
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“My whole career I’ve fought anyone,” he says. “I haven’t ducked anyone and I’m not going to start now.
“It’s a good fight, but I’m not calling him out. I’m the champion, I’m number one in this country and I’ve got what he’s looking for.
“But if the money’s right, no problem at all.”
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