PHOTO | Conor McGregor bare knuckle training for Eddie Alvarez

Almost exactly one year ago, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who at the time was gearing up for his UFC 194 scrap with Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship, made headlines when he released a video of himself bareknuckle sparring with strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who stars as ‘The Mountain’ in Game of Thrones. Standing at 6’9, Björnsson is a foot taller than McGregor, and nearly 250 pounds heavier than the Irish superstar.

Fast forward one year, and Conor McGregor is currently gearing up for his UFC 205 scrap with UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. The pair are set to clash in the main event of UFC 205, the UFC’s historic event at the Madison Square Garden, which will also be their first event in New York.

Ahead of the fight, McGregor has taken to social media to reveal that he once again is doing bareknuckle training in anticipation of the fight:

Bare knuckle pic.twitter.com/zZoJmrlF6I

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 1, 2016

While it simply could be that McGregor’s training partner removed his shinguards following the training session, it is interesting that McGregor is wearing shinguards. Following his 5-round war with Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 202 back in August, McGregor was seen limping backstage. Initial reports were that McGregor broke his foot, which were followed up by footage of McGregor attending the UFC 202 post-fight press conference on crutches. McGregor refuted the claims, stating that his foot wasn’t broken, his leg was just hurt.

When it was announced that the UFC was looking to book a lightweight title fight between McGregor and Alvarez for the main event of UFC 205, UFC President Dana White stated that McGregor’s leg was still healing from his scrap with Diaz, and he would be unable to fight Alvarez.

This week however, during the UFC 205 press conference, McGregor stated that his leg was fine, and he would have no problems returning to the Octagon on November 12th.