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May 20, 2023

Footage shows Conor McGregor made Ultimate Fighter contestant keep sparring after ‘shutting his liver down’ with kick

Conor McGregor refused to let his Ultimate Fighter sparring partner stay down after dropping him with a body shot. ‘ Notorious’ hasn’t fought since breaking his leg during a trilogy fight with Dustin

Conor McGregor refused to let his Ultimate Fighter sparring partner stay down after dropping him with a body shot.

‘Notorious’ hasn’t fought since breaking his leg during a trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, but he is booked to face Michael Chandler.

Earlier this year, McGregor filmed season 31 of the popular MMA reality TV show alongside his next opponent in Las Vegas – it's been airing for the past seven weeks.

In June, a teaser clip showed McGregor was not only coaching TUF contestants, but he was also sharing some rounds with everyone on his team.

The 34-year-old appeared to get a little carried away during a sparring session with Landon Quinones whom he dropped with a brutal left kick to the liver.

McGregor used the left leg he injured two years ago and it appears to be stronger than ever after being fitted with a ‘titanium rod from the knee to the ankle.’

On Tuesday, the full clip of MMA’s greatest star sparring Quinones aired and showed the session didn’t end after McGregor nailed him with the body shot.

The Irishman followed Quinones to the ground, but rather than hit him with more strikes, he pressed his head against the fence and urged him to ‘fight through it.’

After a moment of hesitation, the 7-1-1 prospect jumped back to his feet and continued fighting before praising his coach for the kick when training was over.

“I finally got to go with Conor,” Quinones said while recapping the session.

“When I went with Conor, it was a blessing because I was kind of nervous.

"I started moving, throwing my jab and he throws a couple of power shots at me. I’m like, ‘OK, it’s one of those kinds of spars.’

"The same way he taught us in the class, he did a lead left body kick with his foot and hit me with a left body kick to the liver and kind of shut me down for a minute.

“When that happened, I feel like I learned more in that round than a lot of rounds in my career. I feel like I’m going to take that with me and it’s going to make me so much better.”

Quinones went on to suffer a first-round submission loss in his quarter-final fight against Jason Knight, who is well-known to McGregor after fighting his former teammate-turned-enemy, Artem Lobov, twice in bare-knuckle boxing.

Team McGregor has now suffered seven consecutive defeats and is just one more loss away from making Ultimate Fighter history for all the wrong reasons.

No team has ever lost all eight quarter-final bouts, and Dana White seems to have no clue what will happen to the show if Chandler’s group wins again next week.

The UFC president shrugged and looked at his executive producer who claimed fighters may need to swap teams to keep things interesting.