Ultimate Fighting Championship sensation Conor McGregor has given his take on what it was like to spar with "The Mountain" Hafthor Julius Bjornsson.
A video surfaced in late October showing the UFC interim featherweight champion in a playful fight with Bjornsson, known for his role as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on HBO's Game of Thrones. A report from MMA Junkie quoted McGregor bragging about his "victory":
It was a lot of fun. That’s a big man – 6-foot-9, 400 pounds, and I still folded him up. I was hitting him with some shots – I had to hit him with some shots. He was trying to hit me, as well. People say, ‘He was taking it easy.’ He tried to grab me and tried to pull my head off and I defended – freed the head. I was like, this motherf----r is so big, I have to start smacking him to the body. … But I sunk him good. Not even a ‘Mountain’ can take these shots from me.
The fight was set up as part of McGregor's training for the December 12 championship bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 194, where each fighter hopes to establish their dominance over the featherweight division.
At the time of the video's release, Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter suggested McGregor was playing a risky strategy by taking on such unnecessary exercises in preparation for the biggest fight of his career to date:
Surely there are better ways for Conor McGregor to stay uninjured than SPARRING WITH THE MOUNTAIN https://t.co/jHM0J9gwrH
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) October 31, 2015
Bjornsson is a man of epic proportions, and it's due to that sheer size he was cast as a giant menace on Game of Thrones, but the Icelandic strongman brings his own share of athletic achievements to the octagon.
As well as being named Europe's Strongest Man for the last two years running, the 27-year-old has also placed in the top three in the last four World's Strongest Man tournaments.
Although verging toward World Wrestling Entertainment-style drama, the sparring session is likened by MMA Junkie to the meeting between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972's Game of Death.
That being said, there isn't likely to have been many lessons McGregor learned from his meeting with the Mountain that would translate to a fixture against an opponent 14 inches shorter and more than 250 pounds lighter.
Aldo has grown accustomed to intimidation tactics in the build-up to Saturday's title clash, with McGregor taking on the role of the aggressor throughout much of his rise up the UFC ranks.
The Dubliner recently put that confidence into words after proclaiming he'll move for the UFC lightweight title after defeating Aldo, according to mixed martial arts reporter Ariel Helwani:
McGregor: I will KO Jose Aldo and I will fight the winner of the lightweight title fight. … Predicts he will be a two-way world champ.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 2, 2015
Fans will merely be glad McGregor came out of his sparring fun against the Mountain with no injuries, but a far different task awaits him at Las Vegas' MGM Grand come December 12.
The interim champion may brag of "folding up" a 6'9" titan, but the time for jokes is over as McGregor gets back to real business.
