Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
McGregor’s coach shares a video from 2013 that shows McGregor completely confounding WBC featherweight champ Patrick Hyland during a spar.
Boxers seem to love challenging Conor McGregor to a contest in the ring, but when it comes to a cage fight there are a lot less people lining up to talk smack about the Irish sports star. But one man willing to step into McGregor’s world and take his lumps is former WBF featherweight champion and fellow countryman Patrick Hyland.
Hyland went 31-3 over a professional career that spanned from 2004 to 2016. But he was unable to do much more than get a few pawing jabs off in the cage before “The Notorious” took him down and passed effortlessly to mount.
“What do I do?!?” Hyland yells as he gets dragged to the canvas. “I don’t know what to do!”
Even after they stand back up and keep things standing, Hyland simply has no response to the barrage of kicks McGregor throws. In desperation he attempts a few takedowns of his own.
“Oh so you’re a wrestler now?” McGregor says playfully after the attempt.
A second takedown attempt from Hyland ends with McGregor landing right into mount, where he quickly transitions to an armbar. They reset again and after some more back and forth with Conor using his kicks to keep the boxer at bay, McGregor finishes off the round with a final takedown that dumps Hyland hard on his back.
The footage comes from The Mac Life archives and was filmed by McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh back in 2013 as McGregor prepared to fight Max Holloway. While it’s clearly just a playful spar, it goes to show you just how few answers a boxer has when presented with the full range of attacks possessed by a top mixed martial artist.
Now if only McGregor can convince Floyd Mayweather to step into the cage against him…