Conor McGregor could have been bouncing footballs rather than bouncing heads off the canvas if his career had taken a different path.
McGregor’s first passion was football – he fell in love with the game at an early age and could have been a professional player if he hadn’t chosen MMA instead.
The Irishman will step back into the octagon for a trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier later this summer, but could he have been the man to help Ireland qualify for the Euros?
The highly-anticipated fight takes place on July 10, the same weekend as the European Championship finals.
In an alternative reality, the former UFC double champion could have been battling it out with Cristiano Ronaldo on a football pitch rather than for the top spot on Forbes’ highest-earning athletes of the year.
The Notorious has made his love footie no secret – he has even flirted with the idea of buying Manchester United.
The lifelong fan of the club had Irish heroes Roy Keane and Denis Irwin to look up to.
Speaking on his affinity for the club, he said: “I was more a player than a watcher back then, but Manchester United was my team.
“It was only the other day I came across an old picture of myself wearing that infamous grey United jersey, which I bought with my [First Holy] Communion money at eight years of age.”
So what sort of player was he?
Well, if you ask the man himself, he’ll tell you he was a goal machine.
Before becoming a fighter, the Dubliner played for Slievenamon United and Yellowstone Celtic in the United Churches League and Leinster Football League.
He was a regular starter, playing as a striker for both clubs whilst also training in mixed martial arts.
“He was a striker and was our top scorer every year,” former Slievenamon manager Robbie Beakhurst told the Junior Soccer Portal about the MMA star’s time at the club.
@kierantierney (Instagram)
@notoriousmma (Instagram)
“I took over Yellowstone Celtic and took him with me and again he was scoring for fun on a weekly basis.
“He used to just say to the rest of the team ‘just give me the ball and I’ll do the rest’ – he was a smashing player but we had a decent team.
“As he got more involved in the MMA he couldn’t make matches and we allowed him to skip training.”
McGregor the football would have made for some quality TV.
Known for his incredible movement and precision striking, can you imagine some of the acrobatic goals he might have scored?
We have an idea of the goal celebration given the ‘Billy Strut’ that is often copied, notably by Sergio Ramos.
Kilmarnock midfielder Alan Power paid tribute to the UFC legend by celebrating this way a number of years ago.
The pair’s relationship stretches back years from their days playing Sunday League football in Dublin.
Power reminisced about his footballing past, saying: “We used to knock around in the same circle of friends back home when we were growing up,” he explained in 2018.
“He played Sunday League football where I did, actually he wasn’t a bad footballer, but he chose a different path.”
2016 Denise Truscello
Although he clearly took the right path by choosing MMA, McGregor has still shown his interest in being involved in the beautiful game.
He invested a significant amount into Lourdes Celtic, another one of his boyhood clubs, gifting them new state-of-the-art training facilities and kits.
IG: @thenotoriousmma
The self-proclaimed goal machine will have another chance to strike victorious at his rubber match with Poirier, after suffering defeat at UFC 257.
Although with the millions of PPVs sold, titles won and even more millions of dollars he’s made for himself, at this stage in his career he has nothing else to prove.
from Football - news, transfers, fixtures, scores, pictures https://ift.tt/3h1v67X
via IFTTT
No Comment