“It made me who I am today”: How Conor McGregor turned his childhood roots into a $600 million whiskey empire before losing control of Proper No. Twelve

Conor McGregor built Proper No. Twelve around the place that shaped his early life. When he launched the Irish whiskey on Sept. 17 2018 he named it after Dublin 12 where he grew up in Crumlin and learned to fight. What started as a personal connection to his childhood soon became a major business venture that reached a deal worth up to $600 million before McGregor eventually lost control of the brand.The story is more complicated than a famous fighter putting his name on a bottle. McGregor connected the whiskey directly to his upbringing and spent time developing the product before taking it to the market. Proper No. Twelve later became a major part of his business portfolio but its ownership changed significantly before the brand moved forward without his name and likeness. Conor McGregor turned his Dublin 12 childhood into the identity of Proper No. TwelveWhen Conor McGregor launched Proper No. Twelve in September 2018 he explained that the name came directly from the area where he grew up. In the official launch statement released on Sept. 2018 he said: “I come from a place called Crumlin in Dublin 12. It’s a place dear to my heart. It’s where I learned how to fight; it made me who I am today.” That statement gave the number on the bottle a personal meaning because Dublin 12 represented both his childhood and the beginning of his fighting journey.McGregor also connected his upbringing with the values he wanted the business to represent. In the same launch material he said: “Growing up on the streets of Dublin 12 I learned the values of loyalty and hard work.” He added that he was entering the Irish whiskey market “with passion and with purpose.” Those comments made it clear that McGregor wanted the brand story to come from his own background rather than simply using his UFC fame to sell an unrelated product.The product itself also went through a development process before the launch. McGregor worked with David Elder who had experience with Guinness and later worked at the Old Bushmills Distillery. The team reportedly tested close to 100 blends before selecting the whiskey that became Proper No. Twelve. McGregor described the process in 2018 by saying: “We created close to one hundred blends and ultimately selected what we knew was the one and only proper whiskey blend.”That approach helped McGregor position Proper No. Twelve as more than a celebrity endorsement. His name brought attention to the product but the brand also had a clear story behind its name and a development process that involved experienced whiskey professionals. The timing also worked in his favour because McGregor had already built a huge international following through his UFC career and could promote the whiskey directly to that audience.Conor McGregor built Proper No. Twelve into a $600 million business before losing controlThe biggest business development came on April 27 2021 when Proximo Spirits acquired a majority stake in Proper No. Twelve in a transaction valued at up to $600 million. Proximo already owned 49% of the company and the reported figure included $250 million that McGregor and his partners had earned during the brand's first two years with the spirits company. The deal showed how far Proper No. Twelve had moved from its 2018 launch and turned McGregor's personal whiskey project into a valuable commercial brand.McGregor did not immediately disappear from the business after that transaction. He retained an interest and continued to promote Proper No. Twelve as its brand ambassador. At that stage he remained closely associated with the whiskey and continued using his profile to keep the product in front of consumers. The situation changed later when Proximo increased its ownership and eventually took complete control of the company.In November 2024 Proximo confirmed that it had become the 100% owner of Proper No. Twelve and said: “Going forward we do not plan to use Mr McGregor’s name and likeness in the marketing of the brand.” The statement marked a major change because the whiskey had originally used McGregor's childhood connection to Dublin 12 as one of its central selling points.That decision came shortly after an Irish High Court jury found McGregor liable in a civil case brought by Nikita Hand in November 2024. McGregor denied the allegation and said he planned to appeal. Proximo did not state that the court case caused its decision to stop using McGregor's name and likeness. The company simply confirmed that its future marketing would move ahead without him.The Proper No. Twelve story then gained another legal chapter in 2026 when former teammate Artem Lobov pursued a claim against McGregor over the whiskey business. Lobov alleged that McGregor had promised him a 5% share of the proceeds from the sale and argued that he had played an important role in the brand's creation. McGregor denied that such an agreement existed while acknowledging that he had offered Lobov $1 million for his work on the whiskey project. Lobov rejected that offer and continued his legal claim.The dispute ended on April 15 2026 when McGregor and Lobov reached a confidential settlement before the case went to trial. The terms were not made public. The settlement closed another chapter in a business story that began with McGregor looking back at his childhood neighbourhood and eventually became a multimillion-dollar whiskey venture.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. 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