Conor McGregor’s combat-sports return was Friday, and his boxing opponent from the Dublin bout accused him of “the cheapest shot I ever caught in me life.”
McGregor returned to the boxing ring for a competitive bout for the first time since he took on Floyd Mayweather in 2017, in a surprise exhibition against local amateur boxer Michael McGrane in Crumlin Boxing Club’s annual Good Friday Show.
But the 30-year-old McGregor was slammed after he launched straight onto the attack in the four-round fight, and rather than touching gloves, he hit his opponent with a huge left hook.
“It was the cheapest shot I ever caught in me life,” McGrane, whose full-time job is an electrician, told TMZ. “You touch gloves at the start of the fight and you’re meant to go back to your corner, but Conor never went back to his corner. Conor leapt at me with a left hook. He caught me flush in the eye with his clinical left hook. But you can’t let that get to you, man, we still had a fight after that. Conor McGregor hit me a cheap shot in his own hometown.”
It was a serious punch, with McGrane still sporting a bruise to the eye.
McGregor returned to Crumlin Boxing Club, the venue he used to train in during his youth. He started training at the club when he was 12, before winning the Dublin Novice Championships as a 16-year-old.
McGregor stunned spectators in Dublin with the guest appearance, with the Irishman listed on the billing simply as “A. Another.” The fight ended in a draw, with both men posing for pictures after their contest.
McGrane’s sister tweeted as she proudly posted a snap of her brother celebrating.
The TMZ reporter asked McGrane whether the referee took a point off McGregor for the cheap shot, but McGrane said there was no chance.
“The ref was on his side,” he laughed. “There’s no way I would have won that fight unless I knocked him out. He was a bit shocked that we didn’t give up. I’m not like most people, it takes a lot for me to give up, especially when you’re in there against a double-time world champion, I’m definitely not going to give up.”
McGrane said he wants to go full time, as he thinks he has what it takes to become a world champ. But as for fighting McGregor, it’s something McGrane will remember for some time.
“I still can’t believe it. I just hope, because I’m going professional, hopefully it’s going to get me where I need to be,” McGrane said. “But I have one more year left of the electrical game and then I want to go full-time fighting. I think that’s what I want to do.”