Game Of Thrones' 'The Mountain' Relentlessly 'Mauls' Opponent During Sparring Session

Icelandic strongman Hafthor Bjornsson showed off his dominating power in ruthless fashion during a sparring session.

The 31-year-old, best known for his role as Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane in HBO's hit series Game of Thrones, refused to hold back in the early stages against his unnamed opponent.

The 6ft 9in 425lbs actor would continue to force his opponent on the back foot and throw as many punches as humanly possible.

Bjornsson might not have exhibited any natural boxing techniques, but he stalked his opponent down and repeatedly launched wild punches when he backed him onto the ropes.

'The Mountain' largely dominated the fight until the end when his opponent took advantage of him gassing out.

The three-minute sparring took its toll on Bjornsson as he dropped to the floor exhausted.

A majority of fight fans were impressed with his dominating power, while others felt he could be even better with the right conditioning.

A YouTube user wrote: "[He] is a elite athlete im sure if he had a real boxing coach he would do great after alot of time and hard work."

While MrGimmick77 argued: "As someone who practices Muay Thai, I can say with confidence that his lack of technique does not undermine his lethal reach, and power. Literally the only things he's missing is speed, and skill, which his something anyone can develop."

And logan nigh said: "This was basically two minutes of getting mauled by a bear."

A fourth added: "It blows my mind how light on his feet and athleting [sic] Halfthor is as a strongman. Absolutely stunning."

Bjornsson has even sparred with UFC superstar Conor McGregor in 2015, with footage from the incident going viral at the time.

McGregor, who is preparing for his UFC comeback in 2020, revealed that the sparring session happened by complete chance.

"[I said,] 'Let's take a cool picture like that,'" he said at the time.

"We squared off as if we were gonna do it. Then all of a sudden, he's bouncing and I'm bouncing.

"Next thing you know, we're having a full bare-knuckle body shot fight.

"I was hitting him with some shots.

"I had to hit him with some shots. He was trying to hit me as well. He wasn't taking it easy. He tried to grab me and tried to pull my head off.

"I defended, freed the head. I was like, 'This motherf****r is so big, I have to start smashing him to the body.'"

Featured Image Credit: Strongman

Topics: Boxing News, Boxing, Game of Thrones

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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