Thor Bjornsson thinks Conor McGregor owes him a “thank you” and some money.
McGregor has emerged as one of the biggest stars the sport of MMA has ever seen. He became the first fighter to capture UFC gold in two weight classes simultaneously. He even earned himself a boxing match with Hall of Fame elect Floyd Mayweather.
There was a time before McGregor’s popularity exploded when Bjornsson had a fun training session with the “Notorious” one. During an appearance on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, Bjornsson told Logan Paul that McGregor was lucky to escape his wrath.
“It was cool, I had a lot of fun. There was a time where I had a grab of him where I thought, ‘I can crush this guy.’ But he had a fight against Aldo I think a week later, so I was like, ‘I better be nice to him because I don’t wanna injure him right now. He’s about to have the biggest fight of his life right now. It’s gonna be a huge fight for him.’ That fight actually sent him to the moon, basically. He should thank me and probably pay me a bit for [not crushing him].”
Thor Bjornsson & Conor McGregor Spar
Back in 2015, Bjornsson and McGregor were involved in a sparring session. You can see what transpired below.
Bjornsson, who is 6’9, 344 pounds, said that while he didn’t want to chase McGregor around, he could end a real fight in a matter of seconds.
“Bring me some shorts and put us in a cage, I’ll fight again,” the strongman told Off The Ball. “I had him a few times, but I just didn’t want to break him. I was like, ‘Fuck this, I’m not going to run after this small guy!’ He’s running around, you know? I don’t have cardio for running around after small guys.”
“If I get a grab on him,” Bjornsson said, it would be over “in 10 seconds.”
Bjornsson recently competed in a boxing match. He defeated Devon Larratt via first-round TKO. As for McGregor, he’s currently recovering from a broken tibia suffered during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier. McGregor has been walking on his own as of late.
Time will tell whether or not Bjornsson and McGregor will cross paths again.