Conor McGregor’s camp denies rumors of getting knocked out in sparring, claims mistaken identity

The management team of Conor McGregor says Jessie Vargas wasn’t referring to their fighter when he made statements about a sparring knockout.

Over the past few days, there have been rumors that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor was knocked out while sparring in preparation for his August 26th boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. These rumors were brought to the surface by Jessie Vargas, a professional boxer and former opponent of Manny Pacquiao.

In a video, Vargas said that “he had been knocked out in sparring already.” He stated that Brad Wheeler had been the one to put him down. However, it could have been a case of mistaken identity.

Irish publication Independent.ie reports that Vargas is referring to fellow pro boxer Brandon Rios, not McGregor. And McGregor’s management team confirmed with them that neither Rios nor Wheeler has ever sparred with McGregor. In fact, Rios didn’t even know who McGregor was when they contacted him for clarification:

"My phone's been blowing up. I've been getting texts messages and calls about this. I've never met McGregor, and I don't know who he is."

McGregor and Mayweather will compete in a 12-round, 154-pound boxing match on August 26th in Las Vegas.