For those unaware, that was Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson – better known as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane from HBO’s “Game of Thrones” – that McGregor was sparring with. The two were originally set to face off at UFC 189 in July but Aldo had to pull out due to a rib injury.
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No, it’s not a scene out of a video game – it’s as real as it can get. “The sparring, which is all over the Internet as of this posting, featured the 145-pound McGregor against the 6’9” former professional basketball player, who actually weighs 419 pounds.
McGregor had a visitor to the Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, Ireland this week, and it’s fair to say he is one of the biggest men you’ll ever see.
“Today I had a bare-knuckle fight off a 180kg monster called “The Mountain” I’d never fought a man that big before”, read the UFC interim-featherweight champion’s Twitter post. He has won Iceland’s Strongest Man each of the past five years and placed in the top 3 in the World’s Strongest Man contest each of the past four years.
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McGregor is now in training for a title unification fight against Jose Aldo in Las Vegas this coming December. He also is 11th in the UFC’s pound-for-pound best fighters ranking.
