"He was headhunted as it were by HBO" - When Conor McGregor was rumored to star in blockbuster TV show Game of Thrones

In a 2016 report by Metro 50, UFC superstar Conor McGregor was rumored to star in one of the last two seasons of the hit HBO show Game of Thrones.

As per Metro, a source gave the information to Belfast-based publication Sunday Life that the Irishman was being headhunted for the show by HBO:

"He was headhunted as it were by HBO, as one of the Game Of Thrones directors is a huge UFC fan. They believed that he would be a perfect fit for the show."

The rumors gained yet another layer of authenticity when UFC president Dana White, in an interview with Fox Sports Live, confirmed the GOT showrunners were interested in casting Conor McGregor.

Watch the interview below:

But rumors of 'The Notorious' playing a part in the fate of Westeros were just that, rumors. As per an article by Bleacher Report, McGregor confirmed in an interview with Good Times Network that he wouldn't be appearing in a cameo on the show.

The former UFC double champion explained that even though the UFC brass made him aware of the showrunner's interest in him, he never had any official interactions with the GOT executives:

"That was everywhere and I've never even heard about it! I heard about it once after [a fight] … backstage in the dressing room [UFC brass, including Dana White, were] in front of me and they were saying these [visitors] want you to be in Game of Thrones. I'm banged up, my shin's in a heap, I've been kicking his knees straight for twenty five minutes, my leg's in bits, and he's trying to offer me a Game of Thrones role.

And I'm saying, 'Listen, come at me with s**t I want to hear, I'm not trying to be in show business, I'm trying to be in the fight business'... But I've never been in contact with nobody from Game of Thrones and now I'm starring in Game of f**king Thrones!" [h/t Bleacher Report]

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Conor McGregor on how his sparring session with The Mountain happened

In an interview with MMA Weekly in 2015, Conor McGregor spoke about how the bizarre sparring session between him and Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson happened.

The Irishman stated that he initially just wanted to recreate a pose from Bruce Lee's Game of Death with the man who played The Mountain on Game of Thrones. Conor McGregor further explained that the square-off turned into a bare-knuckle sparring session as they both started bouncing around:

"It originally started because I just wanted like, you ever see that famous Bruce Lee film? With... Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, where they like face off... Let's take a cool picture like that and then we square up as if we are going to do it. Then all of a sudden he's bouncing and I'm bouncing next thing you know I'm in a full bare knuckle body shot fight."

Watch Conor McGregor talk about sparring with The Mountain below:

Björnsson is a professional strongman who won the title of World's Strongest Man in 2018. The Iceland native has finished on the podium in the World's Strongest Man competition six times. He recently took to boxing and has won both bouts he took part in.