The “Notorious” Conor McGregor is inarguably one of the greats of mixed martial arts (MMA). However, he’s known for many other things outside of the Octagon, a small one being his hair. 

Although, considering the magnitude of his stardom, really, nothing about him is small. Just look up “Conor McGregor hairstyles” on Google, and you’d get 15+ million results. So, needless to say, people noticed when some weird things started happening around his hairline. 

And that ended up fuelling countless rumours about Conor McGregor hair transplant (alleged, of course). The Irishman himself has never really said anything about it, but his social media posts were enough to clue everyone in. 

Here, we’ll do a deep dive into the past photos of the fighter to find out if he ever really had this surgery, and if so, why did he have really wispy hair in front of his hairline. Was it because it failed? Let’s find out!

Who Is Conor Mcgregor?

Conor Anthony McGregor was born on July 14, 1988 (he’s 35 at the time of writing), in Dublin, Ireland, to Margeret and Tony Mcgregor (who actually met as teenagers). However, his childhood wasn’t spent dreaming about becoming an MMA champion. 

Initially, because he was a fan of Manchester United and wanted to play the game itself, he wanted to become a footballer. 

But around the age of 12 is when he pivoted towards fighting. Crumlin Boxing Club is where it all started, until he finally started training for MMA at the age of 16. 

Two years later, in 2007, he made his debut and got his first knockout win against Kieran Campbell. He was only 18 at the time. 

But then, in 2008, he started doing regional circuits, following which he became a part of the Cage Warriors until he got signed on by the UFC in 2013.

Since then, he’s fought in 3 different weight classes, including lightweight, featherweight, and welterweight, with wins under his belt in all weight divisions. He’s won UFC championships in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. 

In 2017, he even made a foray into the world of professional boxing against Floyd Mayweather (who, by the way, has also gotten a scalp and beard transplant). 

But the former ended up losing to him. And he hasn’t won a match in MMA either since 2020. While the fighter has announced his retirement on several occasions, he has also said that he won’t leave MMA. 

Was Conor Mcgregor Balding? 

At one point, it did look like Conor McGregor was losing hair due to androgenetic alopecia. 

Also known as pattern baldness, it occurs due to a combination of genetics and hormones which end up miniaturising the hair follicles. 

In males, this type of hair loss progresses in a set pattern where the temple hair and front hairline start to recede and thin, along with a bald spot on the crown. 

In the early years of McGregor’s professional career, he either had a buzzcut or a completely shaven head. The latter might have been a deliberate choice to hide the recession of his temple hair. It’s not exactly clear. 

In the following years (2013-2014), he also had a mohawk for a while in which the sides of his head were shaved. 

But when he finally did grow his hair, there weren’t many signs of balding until 2020, when his hairline started to look a little uneven and thin.

At one point in 2019, the fighter said that he believed male pattern baldness could be reversed with scalp exfoliation because it helps unclog it. 

But while exfoliation can help, it can’t change the genetics of your hair loss, so it just won’t work. And maybe Conor realised finally realised that as well. 

Did Conor Mcgregor Get A Hair Transplant?

It’s rumoured that McGregor had a hair transplant sometime between 2021 (at the end of) and 2022. And this was, especially after Conor’s what looked like a newly-transplanted hairline was clearly visible in an August 2022 post. 

From this picture, it definitely does look like Conor McGregor had a hairline and temple hair transplant. And it’s especially visible against the dense background of his existing hair. 

Now, McGregor usually has a close-cut hairstyle, so even if he did shave his head for a hair transplant (which usually happens), it’s unlikely that people would’ve especially noticed it.

Still, his transplant hair should have more or less grown with the rest of his hair. 

While it’s true that you can experience shock hair loss a few weeks after hair surgery (and it can take 3-4 months to resolve), considering how much the rest of his hair has grown, it’s almost like he’s recovering slower than usual.  

Full results can take about 1 year to show, but if there are problems in recovery or you don’t follow aftercare instructions (which can include avoiding smoking, drinking, and wearing caps), this can happen. 

What Type Of Hair Transplant Did Conor Mcgregor Get?

Conor McGregor might probably have had an FUE hair transplant because there’s no linear scarring visible on the back of his head from the FUT (skin strip removal) method. 

In FUE, individual follicles are extracted directly from the scalp so no elongated scar is left behind. 

This technique has become more popular because of this, and its recovery is also relatively quicker (no stitches involved). 

How Many Grafts Did Conor Mcgregor Need?

It’s like that Conor needed somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 hair grafts for his transplant surgery (you can get an estimate with a graft calculator).

His hairline hadn’t receded significantly, and he also wouldn’t have needed a lot of grafts for his temples. 

But looking at his hairline now, it doesn’t look like the graft yield was quite poor. Much of the grafts are spaced out, and the scalp’s clearly showing through. 

Did Conor Mcgregor’s Hair Transplant Fail? 

It’s hard to say whether McGregor’s hair transplant is a failure because we don’t exactly know when he had this surgery. 

As mentioned above, hair transplant results can take 12 months (to even 18 months) to show. If he’s still in the recovery period, his hairline should be more dense eventually (if all’s well). 

Some people even experience shock loss 7 months after their surgery, so it might be that. Only time can tell, though.  

Conclusion 

Conor McGregor’s hair transplant seems likely, especially because of the sparse strip of hair growing at the front of his hairline. However, the MMA fighter hasn’t confirmed or denied anything yet. 

Even Conor’s father had a hair transplant (and he has publicly admitted to it). Many people with pattern baldness choose to have this surgery to permanently grow their hair back. 

So, if you’re looking to get it as well, make sure to get in touch with a qualified and experienced medical professional to get the best results.