Rare Footage Of Conor McGregor's Destructive Professional MMA Debut

Conor McGregor took his first steps into MMA on this day 12 years ago and in true to form style, his debut ended in destructive fashion.

McGregor made his spectacular professional MMA debut on March 8, 2008, when he faced Gary Morris at a Cage of Truth event in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland.

The video shows McGregor, 18, without his now-trademark tattoos and looking a lot thinner than the beast that walks around now.

But you can see his patented left-hand in action as he tagged his opponent at will. Devastating strikes one after another from the beginning.

Image: via YouTube

McGregor started the fight ultra-aggressive and earned a knockdown with a powerful strike before raining down some serious punches. Morris held onto his leg for dear life and barely survived the opening round.

But his hapless opponent succumbed to McGregor's attack just eight seconds into the second round with the future superstar picking up a TKO on the ground.

Speaking six years after his clash with McGregor, Morris recalled what it was like exchanging strikes with 'The Notorious'.

"He was obviously in the southpaw stance, but his style was a lot different," he explained. "Nowadays, his boxing is a lot cleaner than it was back then. I remember a lot of wild overhand lefts. Conor was a lot wilder back then, he wasn't as disciplined.

"He definitely caught me with a few of them overhand lefts. I know we did go to the ground at one stage, or maybe a couple of times, I was trying to wrestle him up a bit. I was trying to tie him up and take him down and we were up and down and up and down, but at no stage were we just kind of lying on the ground. Both of us were looking for different things throughout them exchanges."

McGregor has gone onto enjoy an incredible career which includes winning belts in Cage Warriors and the UFC, where he became the promotion's very first fighter to hold titles in two divisions, simultaneously.

A legend who'll go down as one of the most entertaining and charismatic fighters in MMA history.

Topics: Conor Mcgregor, UFC News, Fight News, UFC, MMA

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Darren Till, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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