What happened when Conor McGregor met Vladimir Putin?

Conor McGregor has often found himself in the middle of controversy. However, the situation surrounding his meet-and-greet with Russian President Vladimir Putin is one of the few controversies to have real-world implications.

McGregor was invited by the Russian president to the 2018 FIFA World Cup final, which was hosted in Moscow. The two shared a brief conversation before posing for a handful of pictures.

McGregor instinctively put his arm over Putin's shoulder and was promptly asked by security personnel to avoid any such contact. Footage of this interaction was posted on his YouTube channel, TheMacLife.

Watch McGregor's interaction with Vladimir Putin below:

McGregor went on to share pictures of his meeting with Putin on his social media handles. He was subsequently hit with a significant amount of flak for describing the controversial political leader in glowing terms:

"Today I was invited to the World Cup final as a guest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This man is one of the greatest leaders of our time and I was honored to attend such a landmark event alongside him. Today was an honor for me Mr. Putin. Thank you and congratulations on an amazing World Cup. [Go Russia]"

Check out McGregor's post right here:

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'The Notorious' is a character played by Conor McGregor, says security guard

Conor McGregor's body guard, Mitchell Atkinson, recently offered fans some personal insight into the real McGregor. He asserted that McGregor was a much quieter and more composed person than he pretends to be. He further admitted that the Irishman plays the character of 'The Notorious':

"[Conor McGregor], he's a great actor. Do you know what I mean? The man is, there's no doubt about it, he's an absolute genius. But 'The Notorious' MMA is very much a character who he plays. A lot of the time he's much quieter and he's, yeah, he's very quiet. And he's almost, I always say, he's got a personality like an artist where he kind of wears his heart on his sleeve."

Watch Mitchell Atkinson's entire interview right here:

The Dubliner is currently coming off back-to-back losses at the hands of Dustin Poirier. His most recent setback took place at UFC 264 back in July 2021.

The fight came to an end after doctor's intervention due to Conor McGregor suffering a gruesome injury in the first round. The Crumlin native has since been licking his wounds and recovering from the injury to prepare for a boisterous return to winning ways.