The UFC star, who recently threatened to buy two professional Irish football teams, took an opposition player to the ground in a move that wouldn’t look out of place in the octagon
Conor McGregor brushed the dust off his football boots to play for his pub’s football team on Saturday. And the Daily Star Bellen d’Or nominee’s efforts on the left wing went exactly how you would expect.
In the amateur United Churches Football League clash between Black Forge FC, the name of McGregor’s pub, and Harding FC, the UFC superstar donned the number 11 shirt but seemed to bring his MMA skills with him.
The game, which ended in a 1-1 draw, must have been a frustrating affair for the Dubliner as footage showed him taking his anger out on an opponent. After a successful Black Forge throw-in deep in the opposition half, McGregor, who played Sunday league football before he shot to global MMA fame, calls for the ball from a teammate who is under pressure from two tacklers.
The MMA star clumsily slips over the ball while trying to control the gentle pass before a Harding player swoops in and takes the ball. McGregor gets up from his fall looking for revenge.
He holds up the Harding man who has his back to McGregor. As he tries to go around the former UFC champ, McGregor pulls him to the ground – in a move that wouldn’t look out of place in the octagon.
A voice is heard in the background of the video saying, “great takedown”, as the two men get back to their feet and the referee blows for a free-kick to Harding.
Later in the same fixture, McGregor is seen running down the wing as he tries to control a heavily weighted pass. A defender slides in and knocks the ball out of his control.
As a Harding player slides in to stop the ball going out of play, McGregor decides to throw his body into the player as the ball flies into touch. Reigniting his UFC rivalry, someone commented on the clip: “Damn Khabib is even better than him at football.”
Another blasted: “H might be the worst footballer on earth.”
“This guy is just trained to bring people to the floor,” a second wrote.
But aside from the Vinnie Jones comparisons, the most common criticism of McGregor’s performance was his first touch. “Has a touch like a…,” an X user censored themselves. “That touch is criminal,” another said. And plenty more read a lot like “Touch of a ……..”.
X users were also left cracking up at the sound of an opponent telling his teammates “I have 11”, so as to not give the world famous athlete any special treatment by name-checking him. “Fellas saying “I got 11” as if he doesn’t know who he is,” one person commented.
The UCFL is one of several amateur leagues operating in Dublin and McGregor’s side currently sit second in the table with four wins from seven games. Before the match, McGregor posted an image of a pair of purple Nike boots on social media with the caption: “Today we ball”.
He followed that up by adding: “I break jaws with my shoulder, and noses. I get the ball any pitch, any where. Moses”. Footage has since gone viral on social media, with one clip showing ‘the Notorious’ put in a thumping challenge on an opposition player.
It comes after McGregor expressed interest in buying two professional Irish football teams before cup winners Drogheda United distanced themselves from the controversial MMA star.
McGregor took to social media earlier this week to celebrate his cousin winning the league with the Drogheda team. But the 36-year-old made a rookie error – he mistakenly tagged the Drogs’ arch rival, Dundalk FC, in the Instagram post which featured pints of his Forged Irish Stout.
The Claret and Blue Army were not impressed and released a statement distancing themselves from the Dublin-native, who was nominated for the Daily Star’s Bellen D’Or award.
McGregor also took to X, whose owner Elon Musk has teased followers about buying Liverpool FC, to ask how much it would cost to buy an Irish football team. He wrote alongside a picture of the FAI trophy: “How much is it to buy a League of Ireland team? I might buy two”.
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