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Mike Tyson Says Conor McGregor Has 'Earned' Second Chance After Controversy

Mike Tyson Says Conor McGregor Has 'Earned' Second Chance After Controversy

Former undisputed champ also calls the beleaguered MMA star 'a wonderful man' and boasts of weed habit

Simon Catling

Simon Catling

I'm not sure what it says about you as a person if ex-very-good-boxer but also formerly-jailed-rapist Mike Tyson calls you 'a really kind man'. However Conor McGregor could probably do with any friend he can get after a string of controversies, so he'll no doubt take this latest endorsement from the former undisputed heavyweight champ.

Irish MMA star McGregor, for a time considered the best pound-for-pound UFC fighter going until his sensational defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov last year, found himself in hot water once again after video footage surfaced of him punching a 50-year-old man at The Marble Arch pub in Dublin this past April.

McGregor has since apologised for his actions - which come not long after he was arrested for smashing another man's phone - but has found an ally in Tyson, who told reporters 'he's a wonderful person'.

Mike Tyson.
PA

Continuing, the 53-year-old said McGregor is 'a really kind man' who will get 'good karma' for his apology, adding that The Notorious has 'earned' a second chance.

Tyson's backing comes as McGregor came clean about the incident in Dublin, in which the middle-aged victim gave us all cause to suspect he could've done a better job than Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz by taking one of the Irish fighter's finest punches with barely a grimace.

"That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having it end the way it did," McGregor told ESPN in an interview.

"I tried to make amends and I made amends back then. But it doesn't matter. I was in the wrong. I must come here before you and take accountability and take responsibility."

For this part, the victim apparently has no interest in McGregor apologising to him or offering him any money, with a friend telling The Sunday Mirror: "His face was very sore. He was very shaken by the whole thing and didn't leave his house for days."

This isn't the first time McGregor has been backed by Mike Tyson. As TMZ reported, the Irishman commented: "I will always have the height of respect for you," after they hung out together in Ireland, adding: "I love you Mike! Iron Mike Tyson!"

Not everyone was quite so impressed, however. After the incident, fellow MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov said McGregor had 'lost his mind' and should go to jail for the attack.

Speaking to TMZ Sport, he said: "These people, they have to go to jail. I told you, this guy have no class. No respect.

"This is very bad for sport. Some things he doing good for sport, but right now he without his mind. He lose his mind. It's crazy.

"Government have to smash him. This is my opinion, 'cause I'm really, really mad about this video. I don't understand how you can punch old man."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Conor Mcgregor