UFC superstar Conor McGregor shocked the world when he knocked out Jose Aldo for the featherweight title, then “Notorious” did it all over again with a TKO over Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt. Of course, even the UFC’s first champion to ever simultaneously hold multiple titles had to start somewhere.
Way back when, before McGregor was a superstar, the fighter made his way to SBG Ireland to let his intentions of becoming an all-star MMA fighter be known. “Notorious” made quite the first impression on the team, dropping now-retired female fighter Aisling Daly during training. As a result, SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh decided to step inside the ring to teach McGregor a lesson.
Speaking to News.Au, Kavanagh broke down the situation.
“It sounds worse than it was. He wasn’t hitting her in the head or anything, but just happened to throw a body shot that hit her in the sweet spot, the solar plexus, and put her down.”
“I got a little emotional because Ash had been with me a long time and the other guys would look after her. But this new guy had come in and put her down, and my protective nature kicked in.”
“I was still fighting at that stage, or hadn’t stopped that long, so I put the gloves on — actually, he has corrected me on that and says it was bare knuckles.”
“I held him down and beat the [expletive] out of him, without putting too fine a point on it.”
“I kept hitting him in the body until he couldn’t breathe and then I looked at him: ‘What’s it going to be? We can train or we can fight?’ And he was OK from the next day.”
