Video: Conor McGregor scores pair of standing 8 counts in surprise exhibition boxing match

Conor McGregor made a surprise return to action, competing in an exhibition boxing match in Crumlin — a suburb of Dublin, Ireland.

The former two-division champion showed up at the Crumlin Boxing Club’s Good Friday boxing event on Friday, fighting a boxer in a three-round match. “The Notorious” looked sharp in the bout, even scoring a pair of standing eight counts in one of the rounds.

Check out a pair of videos of McGregor competing in the boxing ring below.

McGregor heated up rumors of a return to action in the UFC with his appearance at the event. The 37-year-old has been out of action for nearly five years after back-to-back stoppage losses to Dustin Poirier in 2021. In his most recent appearance, McGregor suffered a nasty leg injury in a first-round TKO loss to Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.

After a wild 2016 campaign that saw McGregor become the UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion, along with an iconic two-fight series with Nate Diaz, the MMA superstar has only competed four times — losing three of those bouts, and competing in a boxing match where he was stopped by Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.

In his first two bouts following the Mayweather bout, McGregor was finished by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, then knocked out Donald Cerrone 15 months later at UFC 246 in January 2020.