Sport

‘He is not a knighted sir on this soil’ – Conor McGregor squares up to Richard Branson in Dublin

CONOR McGREGOR went toe to toe with Virgin chief Richard Branson as the pair stripped to the waist in front of shocked onlookers in Dublin.

It’s been a trying few weeks for Branson, with accusations of sexism against his Virgin Trains social media team and incurring the wrath of the Daily Mail for ditching the paper from his trains' shops.

The last thing the 67-year-old could do with was having to square up to Irish MMA star McGregor.

Face off with Mr. Branson. He is not a knighted Sir on this soil.

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jan 10, 2018 at 1:14pm PST

However before you feel too sorry for the multi-billionaire, it was all in jest.

Branson was presenting McGregor, 29, with a lifetime achievement award at the Pendulum Summit in Dublin, a business and self-empowerment event.

After Branson said McGregor had to take his shirt off before receiving the award, the UFC lightweight champion ripped off his top.

Branson then removed his shirt before the pair squared up and pretended to throw punches at each other.

McGregor posted an image of the bizarre event to his Instagram account, saying: “He is no knighted sir on this soil.”

While McGregor may have gone easy on Branson, Twitter didn’t…

I hope you had a word with him about @VirginTrains customer service procedures.

— Callum Price (@thecallumprice) 10 January 2018

Can you ask him why he sued the #NHS? And also to stop trying to privatise it as well please buddy!

— Thomas Kaufman (@therealktash) 10 January 2018

@richardbranson shouldn't be knighted on this soil either after all the money he is ripping off from the taxpayer #ripoffrichard #BoycottVirgin

— Mark (@SUD5_McDUFF) 10 January 2018