Conor McGregor receives bizarre rare gift ahead of UFC return

Conor McGregor was given a rare gift from a famous Navy SEAL ahead of his UFC return against Max Holloway.

After five years away from the octagon, McGregor will make his highly-anticipated return to the UFC as part of the international fight week card in Las Vegas on July 11.

The former two-weight champion will come back for a rematch against former foe and fellow ex-champ Holloway, whom he last faced back in the early days of both men's careers 13 years ago.

Not only were McGregor and Holloway, who are now two of the biggest names in UFC history, not the main event, but they weren't even on the main card as the Irishman picked up a unanimous decision victory on the prelims.

Holloway, who later went on the dominate the featherweight division and become the BMF champion, will no doubt be eager to avenge the loss when the pair meet once again this summer.

Therefore, McGregor will have to ensure that he's back to his very best when he makes the UFC walk once again, and he's bringing some interesting characters into camp as he prepares for the fight.

During a training session, the former UFC champion sat down with Rob O’Neill, a former United States Navy SEAL who claims to be the sole individual to kill Osama bin Laden, something that has been disputed by some other former NAVY Seals.

And while discussing the famous 2011 raid, O’Neill presented McGregor with one of the gloves that he wore during the mission that killed the infamous terrorist.

“I’m working with this, and my left hand’s up here,” O’Neill told said while demonstrating how he was holding his rifle in the moment.

“So when I saw Osama bin Laden, the closest thing to him was my left hand. So I put him down on the ground with my right hand.”

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O’Neill then handed the glove over to the former UFC fighter as a strange and unique gift. “I wanted you to get this as a token of our friendship,” he said.

Clearly impressed, McGregor replied: “These are the gloves that [were] used on the mission to take down Osama bin Laden, wow."

The pair had previously met when McGregor interviewed the ex-SEAL as part of his interview series “1 of 1” filmed inside his Dublin pub, the Black Forge Inn.

Conor McGregor tells Navy SEAL about brutal injury recovery

In his last outing in the UFC, McGregor brutally broke his leg during the first round of his bout with Dustin Poirier, resulting in a TKO loss.

The nature of the loss has, of course, raised questions and concerns about how the Irishman will be when he comes back nearly five years later, but he explained to O’Neill exactly how he is preparing to deal with his return from the injury.

"As I've become more experienced in the game I actually work backwards towards the perfect scenario. I have had a limb break inside the octagon, so now I must have an answer to that," McGregor said.

"I have the perfect scenario, you knock them out with the big backhand, the crowd roars.

"But then I have the worst case scenario... I have a whole selection of responses to the worst-case scenarios.

"So if the ankle goes, if the knee goes, if the shoulder goes, what's my response? Because the fight's not over. If you have a manoeuvre, you can outlast and you can survive.

"As I have gotten more experience in the fight game, I've found to work my way backwards from the worst case scenario, to the best case scenario. And then focus and prepare for the best case scenario."

Discussing his opponent, he added: "I've got a great deal off the UFC. They honoured me, finally.

"Preparation is going very well. We're living, breathing, and sleeping in the gym."

"The opponent is a man that I've beaten before. Our last bout was martial arts mastery by yours truly, so I plan on doing it again. I plan on showing my growth and my improvements in there."