Conor McGregor Prevents Closure of SBG Portarlington

Philip Mulpeter, the owner of SBG Portarlington, nearly had to close his gym due to financial struggles caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. Luckily, Conor McGregor swooped in to save the day by providing the owner with some financial assistance.

The gym, located in County Laois, Ireland, has had to deal with three lockdowns and naturally is struggling to get through these hard times financially. Mulpeter told ESPN that “Our landlord wasn’t giving us any break on rent or anything like that. We had to decide to shut the doors for good.”

Mulpeter posted about the struggles that the gym was having on Instagram, a post which was seen by UFC superstar Conor McGregor. Mulpeter, a longtime friend and former training partner at SBG Ireland, received a phone call from McGregor telling him not to close the gym. Not long after Mulpeter posted on instagram about how the gym would be staying open because of financial support received from McGregor.

"I was like nearly crying there," Mulpeter said of the call with McGregor. "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."

It is unknown exactly how much money McGregor donated to the gym, but it was more than enough to keep the doors from shutting down for good.

Mulpeter, a Bellator veteran, runs the amateur MMA and BJJ promotion Gaelic Atlantic Martial Arts (GAMA) as well. Make sure to keep an eye out for future events from the promotion to see up and coming Irish talent early on in their careers.

Conor McGregor is currently in Portugal training for his UFC 257 main event matchup against Dustin Poirier on January, 23rd.