In one corner, the UFC Featherweight Interim champ Conor McGregor. In the other: Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson. The man who portrayed Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clagane on Game of Thrones.
This is the closest we’ll ever get to a real life Oberyn vs The Mountain match-up. Only this time it doesn’t end in tears.
A couple of notes: this is a pretty light sparring sessions. It looks like there’s been a gentleman’s agreement to not hit one another in the head.
Also — I can’t help but feel as though Björnsson’s taking it a little easy on Conor. As you might expect. Conor’s fighting weight is around 66kgs. Björnsson weighs in at 180kgs. Almost three times the weight.
But it’s super interesting to watch. Conor throws a lot of straight lefts (his best strike) direct to the body. And uses his footwork to evade Björnsson, who is actually surprisingly quick for a big man. It’s insane — but Björnsson is actually way, way too heavy to fight in the UFC’s Heavyweight division, which has a max weight of around 120 kgs. He’d have to shed a lot of weight if he wanted to compete in mixed martial arts.
Despite being pretty tame sparring session, it’s pretty insane that Conor McGregor has decided to mess around like this. He’s currently in training for the biggest fight of his life. A title vs title match against the current pound-for-pound king, Jose Aldo. Risking injury against a 180kg giant probably isn’t the most efficient way to train for that fight, but it looks like these guys are having a bit of fun.
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