Conor McGregor has apologised for using the word "f****t" in a recent video that went viral, stirring up a huge amount of controversy for the mixed martial arts champion.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show, McGregor said he was sorry for what he said and that he did not mean to "disrespect" the LGBT community.
McGregor has been at the centre of a storm of controversy since a clip was posted of him last week using the f-word three times in a conversation with fighter Artem Lobov after the latter’s defeat in a UFC bout.
The Crumlin-born MMA star addressed the viral video and his comments for the first time in a pre-recorded interview with Tubridy in front of a live studio audience on Tuesday ahead of Friday night's Late Late Show.
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He said: "I have to put my hands up there. I was watching a fighter, a sparring partner, a training partner, a friend, a brother of mine who has given his health, his body health, his brain health, everything to help me prepare for fights to give my brain health and my body health to entertain the public. That’s the fighter I was going to watch and support. I witnessed him lose a fight, and a potential career-ending fight, in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away and I was upset.
"I was whispering in his ear and I was speaking on that and I said what I said. I meant no disrespect to nobody of the LGBT community. I didn’t mean no disrespect. You’d swear I was screaming at two people of the same sex kissing. I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalised, I was campaigning for that. It is another one where things just get blown out and they love to just, any chance they get they love to throw me under the bus. It is what it is. I’ll just say sorry for what I said and that’s it and try to move on from it."
In the wide-ranging interview, McGregor also speaks about why he felt the Floyd Mayweather fight ended too soon; how the birth of his son has changed him and what he wants to do next in his quest for world domination.
Watch the full interview with Conor McGregor on The Late Late Show, RTÉ One, Friday, November 3 at 9.35pm.
McGregor is currently in Dublin to promote the documentary movie Conor McGregor: Notorious which is in cinemas from November 1.
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