Conor McGregor brutally drops one of his own fighters during sparring session

Conor McGregor brutally dropped one of his own fighters during a sparring session on the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter.

The legendary two-weight world champion has coached his team to a rather unflattering 0-7 losing streak that has promotional boss Dana White wondering how the show can continue into the semi-finals.

McGregor was involved in a heated altercation with Michael Chandler the previous week, and appears to have taken out his anger on a member of his own team, Landon Quinones.

In what was supposed to be a light sparring drill, McGregor landed a brutal body kick towards Quinones' ribs which left the 27-year-old on a heap in the floor.

But McGregor forced him back up to his feet, telling him to "fight through" the pain. On reflection, Quinones insisted that the sparring session was a "blessing", believing he learned a lot from the Irishman.

"I finally got to go with Conor," he told The Ultimate Fighter. "When I went with Conor it was a blessing because I was kind of nervous. I started moving with him and throw my jab, he throws a couple of power shots at me. I'm like 'okay, it's one of those kind of spars'. The same way he thought us in the class he did a lead leg body kick with his toes.

"He hit me with a left body kick right in my liver that kind of shut me down for a minute. When that happened I felt like I learned more in that round than I did in a lot of rounds in my career and I feel like I'm going to take that with me, the way I train is going to be so much different."

Unfortunately, the lesson was not enough for Quinones to see off veteran bare knuckle boxer Jason Knight, with Knight winning by submission in the opening minute.

Replying to the video on Twitter, fans were quick to pick up on McGregor's no-nonsense training.

"Take it easy on the young lads", one fan wrote.

"Kid will be better after that. You can only coach so much, they gotta get in there and fight for themselves," another added.

"People criticising this have NEVER sparred before with a fighter/coach before. This is tough love. Makes you stronger," a third said.

"He taking his own fighters out lol he mad mad", another joked.

Meanwhile, other fans reckoned his behaviour crossed the line. "Conor just acting the bully", one fan wrote.

"He just want to beat up these amateurs," another added.

Topics: UFC, Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno