Getting To Know Young McGregor: The Goal-Thirsty Striker Who Moves To MMA

Conor McGregor (Twitter @theNotoriousMMA)

JAKARTA - Conor McGregor earned countless money in the world of Mix Martial Arts (MMA). However, in his early days, he faced the dilemma of choosing between a career on the football field or the Octagon.

Prior to becoming a full-time fighter, McGregor was a regular starter for Slieveamon United and Yellowstone Celtic in the United Churches Football League (UCFC) and Leinster Football League.

"He played for me with a club called Slievenamon United when we played at UCFL," former manager Robbie Beakhurst told the Junior Soccer Portal.

"He is a striker and our top scorer every year. I took over at Yellowstone Celtic and took him with me and again he scores goals for fun every week.

“He used to say to the rest of the team 'give me the ball and I'll do the rest' - he's a great player but we have a decent team.

"As he got more and more involved in MMA, he couldn't play anymore and we allowed him to skip training."

David Glennon also coached McGregor in those early days, and he told the Herald that despite The Notorious' football skills, he only wanted to focus on one sport.

"He's always been a little more interested in MMA, but he will definitely be one of the strongest on the team," began Glennon.

"I think he played for one year, maybe two years, before we broke up on the Saturday team.

"The first year he used to be with us all year round, but in the second year, you will be lucky to get him once a week, because he gets into MMA a lot."

Things have been going pretty well for McGregor since he made the decision to quit football.

The Dublin man has enjoyed a long and successful MMA career and even turned to boxing in 2017, taking on Floyd Mayweather in a match that remains one of the most famous events in sporting history.

Although his boxing plans are currently on hold, McGregor will return to the Octagon on July 10 to face his longtime foe Dustin Poirier for the third time.