Conor McGregor’s former football coach reveals that the Irishman was a top goal scorer before he became a mega-star in the UFC.
Little has been documented of Conor McGregor’s passion for soccer (football) in his youth. “The Notorious” has hinted at a life on the football pitch in the past, but didn’t give away too many details.
David Glennon, however, who manages Stanaway Celtic football club and served as McGregor’s former coach, spilled the beans to Ryan Nugent of the Herald.ie.
According to Glennon, the UFC featherweight champion was a striker on the pitch as well as in the Octagon.
“He was a pretty good player for us and if I remember correctly he got top scorer for us one of the years, for our Saturday side,” Glennon said.
Although McGregor clearly had a knack for goal scoring, the spectacle of Saturday football for Yellowstone Celtic was a far cry from the bright lights of the UFC.
“I’d say most weeks we’d have had about five people, a dog and a man with an umbrella at our matches. He was always a bit more interested in MMA, but he would have certainly been one of the fittest on the team. I think he played for a year, maybe two, just before we broke up the Saturday side. The first year he was generally down with us all year, but in the second, you’d be lucky to get him in once a week, because he got more into the MMA.”
The 27-year-old became a two-division cage warriors world champion in 2012 before looking to achieve the same feat in MMA’s premier promotion. After dethroning Jose Aldo for the 145-pound title, McGregor looked to challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight belt at UFC 196 to become the first simultaneous two-division champ in UFC history. Dos Anjos, however, pulled out of the bout with a broken foot and McGregor accepted a replacement fight with Nate Diaz at welterweight.
McGregor’s multi-division aspirations were shattered when Diaz choked the Dubliner out in the second round, but he will have a chance to redeem himself in an immediate rematch at UFC 200. The highly anticipated PPV takes place on July 9th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.