UFC star Conor McGregor was accompanied by two bodyguards at the VIP Style Awards in Dublin recently due to alleged death threats made against the 27-year-old native of Ireland.
According to Ken Sweeney and Barry Moran of the Irish Sun, a source reported McGregor provided that reasoning when asked about the guards by those in attendance, although he has yet to make an official statement on the matter.
Per Sweeney and Moran, the source provided an account of McGregor’s appearance at the event alongside girlfriend Dee Devlin:
Conor and Dee arrived around 30 minutes after most of the other red-carpet arrivals and they were accompanied by an entourage.
He [had] two huge minders with him for the entire evening and although everyone was in great form, they didn’t leave his side once.
One of them even waited directly outside the toilets when he nipped in at one stage!
Conor was really relaxed and in great humor but the bodyguards didn’t let him out of their sight for even a minute.
Anyone who wanted a picture or a quick word with Conor had to go through the minders.
He told people their names were Rocky and Drago and that he’d hired them because of death threats.
McGregor was previously threatened on Twitter in February, as he was sent a photo of someone holding an AK-47.
According to Sweeney and Moran, it isn’t believed there is any link between that threat and the reported ones that prompted the UFC Featherweight champ to beef up his security.
McGregor recently made headlines when he suggested on Twitter that he was set to retire rather than compete at UFC 200 in July. He later stated his intention to have a rematch against Nate Diaz at the event, but UFC President Dana White set a main event of Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier instead.
He has also been linked with a potential fight against retired boxing star Floyd Mayweather Jr., who said the clash was “possible,” per FightHype.com.
McGregor is arguably the biggest draw in combat sports currently, and whenever his next bout is officially announced, it will undoubtedly become must-see TV for fight fans across the globe regardless of his opponent.
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