Conor McGregor's boxing coach tells the story of how his combat sports career began
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in MMA but he is going back to his roots.
McGregor is set to return to the octagon in the main event of UFC 257 against Dustin Poirier. It is a crucial fight for the Irishman as if he wins, he will likely be fighting for a UFC title next time out.
In the lead-up to the fight, McGregor did part of his training camp back at Crumlin Boxing Club. Given he is back at where he started, the main boxing coach, Phil Sutcliffe revealed how McGregor started at the gym.
"Well, the start, when he walked in here, he walked in with his football boots on and he came up and started messing around with the bag, punching the bag. He was only about 10, right after he was playing outside," Sutcliffe said to TheMacLife. "One of the coaches say 'take your boots off, son, then he can start hitting the bag,' Stephen Kavanagh told him to take his boots off. Then, he came in and started to punch the bags again. There are so many kids that come in here, he was just one of them. Now, the fairy tale starts again and he was here for a good few years he was nearly 17. He boxed on a lot of local shows, he's a great talent. He had a great talent but he was interested in lots of different talents like wrestling and MMA. MMA was only starting to come out. He was mixing around with a few of them.
"Look at the story now, I was glad he mixed around with a few of them. To come back here again after all these years, I wish he would've came back before the Mayweather fight, it would've been a bit better. But, he's back and he has Team Crumlin on board, he has Paddy Brady, myself, he has our famous cutman, Andy O'Neill and Raj Vrinceanu. He's going back to his roots where he learned all them fundamentals. He still has them today, he still has all them shots."
Not only is McGregor training at Crumlin Boxing Club for this fight, but he is also at SBG Ireland.
Conor McGregor's past fights
McGregor hasn't fought since UFC 246 when he knocked out Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds. It was his first fight since he lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 for the lightweight title.
During his legendary run to becoming a champion, McGregor defeated the likes of Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz, and Eddie Alvarez.