Man Who Conor McGregor Punched Backs Paul McGrath

Conor McGregor’s 2019 Dublin bar assault victim has come out against the MMA fighter in the wake of his recent altercation with two well-known Irish celebrities.

While he has occasionally used social media to poke fun at fellow UFC competitors — as Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson have all done recently — McGregor’s tweets have recently veered away from combat sports.

The Irish comedian PJ Gallagher and one of the country’s greatest football players, Paul McGrath, have been the focus of the former two-division UFC champion’s tweets during the past few days.

After ESPN commentator Laura Sanko accidentally listed the “Notorious” star among the top five active boxers from the UK, Gallagher made light of the situation by joking that the UK “can have” McGregor.

Later tweets seemed to depict McGregor making fun of Gallagher’s well-known battles with mental illness.

When McGrath called him a “bully” in support of Gallagher, the former defender for Manchester United and Aston Villa came into the former featherweight and lightweight champion’s crosshairs.

McGregor then issued a “2 vs. 1” boxing challenge to both guys.

Desmond Keogh, 54, recently spoke with Dublin Live and shared his opinion on McGregor’s most recent contentious online exchange. Keogh is well-known to MMA fans; he is the victim of McGregor’s three-year-old pub attack.

“I have no interest in having McGregor in my life. I have blanked him out,” Keogh said.

“But I am an Ireland supporter and to say that about Paul McGrath, who is a national legend in my eyes, is a stupid thing to say. That’s my opinion. Why would he say that?

“And mental health is very important. What McGregor said about that was stupid as well. I don’t know why anyone would speak about someone else’s mental health. There’s no reason for it,” Keogh added.

Keogh continued by bringing up McGregor’s propensity to bar his critics from his free residences. The former multiple-weight champion, 54, was banned after being accused of violence in 2019, but McGrath received a similar letter following this week’s incident.

“He banned me and he banned Paul McGrath,” Keogh noted. “He seems to be banning people for no reason. You’re not a very nice person, are you, if you behave like McGregor? The man (Gallagher) was talking about his mental health.”

While the conflict between McGregor and Gallagher and McGrath has been conducted entirely online, the same cannot be said of Keogh’s interactions with the frequently abrasive Irishman.

While Keogh was seated at the bar of Dublin’s Marble Arch pub in April 2019, McGregor hit him. The 54-year-old was attacked after he turned down a drink of whiskey from the fighter.

Later, TMZ posted video of the assault, for which McGregor admitted guilt and paid a fine of €1,000 ($1,065).