UFC Champ McGregor to headline Best of Ireland New York Gala Dinner

Conor McGregor pictured during a visit to Crumlin Hospital in Dublin last summer.

Conor McGregor and Henrik Lundqvist will celebrate their collective sporting successes on January 31st, 2018 at the seventh annual Best of Ireland Gala Dinner in New York City. The UFC lightweight champion, who is flying to New York solely for the occasion, and the New York Rangers goaltender are amongst the honorees at a fundraising gala established jointly by the Children’s Medical Research Foundation and PGA golfer Graeme McDowell in 2012 to raise funds for pediatric cardiology and research.

The sold-out event takes place at the New York Athletic Club on Central Park and is on course to raise a record $750,000 from 350 attending guests. The Children’s Medical Research Foundation provides vital funding to paediatric doctors based at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in Ireland, working alongside the National Children’s Research Centre, to help fund medical research. The dinner committee praised both Conor and Henrik along with fellow honorees, FOX News’ political anchor Bret Baier and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Adrian Jones, for their support of the event.

Father-of-three Graeme McDowell said, “There’s nothing more stressful for a parent than the worry of having a sick child. Every time I have visited the children in Crumlin I’m always struck by the joy on their faces. They’re incredibly resilient but also incredibly vulnerable, so seeing them receive the best possible care in state-of-the-art facilities is reassuring. The dinner has raised almost $4m since we began and I’m delighted that Conor, Henrik, Bret and Adrian will be joining us at the New York Athletic Club in this, our seventh year.”

Dinner Chairman Alan T. Ennis said, “The Best of Ireland is a way for us to bring attention to the vital funding needed to support the research to treat life-threatening conditions by bringing together the best from the worlds of business, politics and sports on both sides of the Atlantic. The US board is providing funding for some of the very best Irish doctors who eventually find themselves based at several leading US pediatric hospitals. The support of our many American-based donors is critical to this mission and we are looking forward to another wonderful and entertaining evening.”

To join the event waiting list please see The Ireland Funds website here.