Conor McGregor News: MMA Fighter Says He ‘Trained A Guy To Kill’

MMA fighter Conor McGregor is in the news a lot lately thanks to his upcoming match with Nate Diaz, but today, he has made the news for a very different reason.

TMZ stopped the fighter on the street today to discuss the death of Joao Carvalho, the MMA fighter who was notoriously killed in a fight in Dublin, Ireland, back in April. Carvalho lost his life as a result of the injuries sustained in a fight with Charlie Ward, with whom McGregor was training at the Straight Blast Gym. In fact, McGregor was ringside when Ward delivered the fatal blows to Carvalho. Seeing the death caused him to feel a lot of guilt, which he still feels today.

“Damn… I still can’t believe that kid is dead. I wasn’t just watching that fight. I helped train a guy to kill someone, and then someone wound up dying. This is a f—ing dangerous game. People call it a sport, but it’s fighting. I’m just making sure it ain’t me. And that’s f—ed up.”

The event was for Total Extreme Fighting, and in hindsight, Conor McGregor told the news reporters that he felt the fight could have been stopped sooner. He also is trying very hard not to let Carvalho’s tragic death cloud the rest of his career. or take him off of his line of thinking. However, McGregor says he hopes that most of all, the MMA officials and referees can learn from the late fighter’s death so that it will never again happen to someone else.

3 weeks. pic.twitter.com/eUgv6p49k3

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 30, 2016

In other Conor McGregor news, the notorious Irish fighter is gearing up for his rematch with Nate Diaz. According to Bleacher Report, McGregor is most excited about this rematch because he feels he’s “better prepared” for this fight than he was for the last one, where Diaz unceremoniously beat McGregor.

The rematch, set for August 20, will be called UFC 202, and it marks McGregor’s return to fighting after semi-retiring from the sport. Some experts on MMA suggested that Carvalho’s death was one of the main motivating factors behind McGregor’s desire to retire from the ring, and he confirmed in a separate interview that while Carvalho’s death wasn’t the sole motivating factor behind his semi-retirement, the death “certainly put a damper” on his desire to promote a lot of MMA events.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that Conor McGregor isn’t above a little bit of humor. After all, what better way to relieve the mood of a tragic death than with a little bit of humor? Fox News is reporting that last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live featured a skit that made fun of Conor McGregor fans who were betting against Nate Diaz in the upcoming fight!

The skit, titled “What’s Up,” featured Diaz hiding away from the Conor McGregor fans on Hollywood Blvd. as they proceeded to talk lines and lines of trash against the title winner. The upshot, of course, was that he would subsequently confront the fans, and the confrontation began with, “What’s up?” Hilarious results all around, to be sure!

In addition to the title rematch between McGregor and Diaz, UFC 202, which will air live on PPV from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, will feature a Pot Heads Championship between Nick Diaz and Tommy Chong in addition to more than 10 other fights. It will also feature the much-anticipated match between Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira, which was rescheduled from a month ago.

You can expect more Conor McGregor news to come as August 20 draws near.

[Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images]