Conor McGregor; the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar has been linked with a move to Westeros to star in the smash hit TV show Game of Thrones.
According to an unnamed source quoted by The Sunday Life, McGregor has been in talks with the show’s team to appear in an upcoming season of the recordbreaking HBO franchise.
The source revealed that the Irishman was approached by one of the show’s directors who also happens to be a huge fan of UFC. The directors are convinced that McGregor will be a natural fit for the show.
Currently, the UFC star is on a leave from the Octagon as he and his spouse Dee Devlin prepare to welcome their first child in May 2017.
The 28-year-old requested for a chance to refresh, given his heavy workload in recent years and his impending arrival. He has managed to bag remarkable UFC lightweight and featherweight title wins during his four fights in the past 12 months.
A potential move to the show is not a far-fetched idea because the Irishman has in the past trained with Game of Thrones actor/strongman Hafthor Bjornsson, who plays the role of Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane.
In July, D.B Weiss and David Benioff; the Game of Thrones creators, appeared on the UFC Unfiltered Podcast together with comedian Jim Norton and MMA legend Matt Serra.
D.B Weiss and David Benioff have previously spoken of their UFC fandom, even admitting that they talk more about MMA than they do Game of Thrones. They have also declared that they are staunch supporters of McGregor; this past December, they stayed up until 6am in the morning watching the McGregor-Aldo clash.
The show will be filming in both Iceland and Northern Ireland and this will certainly fit well into McGregor’s training schedule.
Prior to this, MMA star Ronda Rousey has shown signs of biding the Octagon goodbye to pursue a fulltime acting career in Hollywood and therefore the news of McGregor’s potential move is bound to be terrible news for the UFC management.
The UFC Company is now owned by new owners, WME-IMG, who purchased the company for $4 billion earlier in the year. The owners will certainly be looking to hold on to both of their megastars in order to maintain their viewership and avoid huge losses.
Some other fighters like Michael Bisping have also moved into the acting world; he is the current UFC Middleweight Champion, who has starred in the upcoming XXX: The Return of Xander Cage film which is led by Vin Diesel. Gina Carano has also tasted the sweet taste Hollywood after hanging up her martial arts gloves.
Megastar Conor McGregor has a huge following in Ireland as well as the rest of the world and therefore he could yet be the biggest martial artist to star in a movie. All McGregor fans across the world will certainly be anticipating the release of the next season of Game of Thrones to watch their favorite star put on his acting boots!