Conor McGregor explains finger injury that was visible at UFC 229 press conference

At the UFC 229 pre-fight press conference, which went down late last month in New York City, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor seemed to have a rather nasty looking wound on his finger. Unsurprisingly, many fans began to speculate that McGregor could be dealing with a staph infection or some other issue.

Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Conor McGregor explained that this injury was no cause for concern. It’s simply a small wound that he sustained when one of his sparring partner’s teeth got “embedded” in his finger.

So, Ion Pascu's tooth got embedded in Conor's finger during sparring pic.twitter.com/yiHtPJCDLr

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 1, 2018

“Only the strong survive around this game,” Conor McGregor said. “I was fighting a 90 kilo fighter, Ion Pascu, he’s a great solid fighter. They call him the bomber. Like me, I sometimes spar without a gum shield.”

“I was sparring this guy, The Bomber, and I smacked him with a clean shot, and his tooth embedded into me,” he continued.

For Conor McGregor, minor injuries of this kind are simply a part of the deal when fighters spar at high intensity — the way he feels they should — in the gym.

“A man’s tooth was embedded into me knuckle,” he said. “Welcome to the fight game. The real fight game. Not that tip-tap shit you see so much of. You’ve got to get in and do it. You’re either going to do it or you’re not going to do it. Make a decision. It is what it is.”

The good news is that Conor McGregor doesn’t seem worried about this finger injury affecting him in his UFC 229 fight with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. As always, the Irish star is long on confidence heading into this fight.

UFC 229 goes down this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card will air on pay-per-view.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/2/2018.