UFC Star Conor McGregor's Donation Helps Irish Gym Stay Open amid COVID-19

UFC's Conor McGregor donated an undisclosed sum to an Irish gym that was on the verge of closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Philip Mulpeter, the owner of SBG Portarlington in County Laois, Ireland, had posted his gym would close in an Instagram post last Friday. According to Mulpeter, McGregor saw the announcement and decided to step in to help his gym stay open for the foreseeable future.

Mulpeter told Marc Raimondi of ESPN:

"I was like nearly crying there. I didn't know what to say to him, to be honest. I'm forever grateful to him. He basically saved our little community. Words can't express what he's done for us. I know that he gets bad press. People don't report on it, but he does this stuff all the time. Conor is not looking for gratitude, he's not looking for the media to spread this around."

Mulpeter said McGregor's donation should keep the gym afloat for the "next year or two."

The UFC star and Mulpeter have known each other since 2008. They trained together at SBG Ireland before McGregor went on to UFC stardom and Mulpeter had an MMA career in Bellator before moving toward training people at his gym.