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Liam Neeson Mocks Conor McGregor as a 'Little Leprechaun' — and UFC Star Seemingly Responds

Brenton Blanchet
·3 min read
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 06: Liam Neeson poses at the opening night of the Roundabout Theatre production of the musical "1776" on Broadway at The American Airlines Theatre on October 6, 2022 in New York City.(Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images); CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 18: Conor McGregor attends the Chopard "Gentleman's Evening" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Rooftop Hotel Martinez on May 18, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Chopard)

Bruce Glikas/Getty; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty for Chopard

Things have certainly Taken a turn.

Liam Neeson it seems is not a fan of Conor McGregor, and he made his thoughts clear in a new interview with Men's Health, where he dished on a variety of topics including Star Wars, dieting, and the UFC.

"That little leprechaun Conor McGregor, he gives Ireland a bad name," Neeson, 70, said. "I know he's fit, and I admire him for that. But I can't take it."

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Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson

Samuel de Roman/WireImage

Neeson also had a bone to pick with the UFC itself, sharing that he "can't stand" the organization.

"That to me is like a bar fight," the actor shared. "I know the practitioners are like, 'No, you're wrong — the months of training we do ...' Why don't you just grab a beer bottle and hit the other guy over the head? That's the next stage of the UFC. I hate it."

While McGregor, 34, didn't respond to his countryman directly, he did share a possibly related thought on Twitter, writing, "Irish proud - always," alongside the Ireland flag emoji.

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Conor wasn't the only McGregor that Neeson opened up about, either. He also reflected on his time filming 1999's The Phantom Menace alongside Ewan McGregor, and one lightsaber fight in particular that involved his character Qui-Gon Jinn.

"I'll tell you what we did the first day we had to take our lightsabers out," he said. "And Ewan and I did this at the exact same time. We pulled our lightsabers out and went, 'dzhhhhhhewww.' George Lucas said, 'You don't have to do the sound effects; we put those in later.' We felt like twats."

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While the actor responded with a prompt "no" when asked if he'd ever consider partaking in a Star Wars spin-off, he's also teased stepping away from action films entirely in the near future. Last year, the actor spoke with Sunday TODAY about his thriller Blacklight and aging as an action star, when he revealed that he would get action scripts where the lead in the film was "29 years of age."

"I turn 70 this year, so I'm still getting away with it," Neeson said, adding he expects to leave behind his action star title eventually.

"I think the action movies will draw to a close — they have to," he said. "Audiences aren't stupid, you know. They're gonna go, 'Oh, f— this guy, Liam Neeson. He's got to be 71, 72, 73...' I'll stop at some stage."

Neeson revealed he was planning to stop filming action movies after this year in another interview, telling Entertainment Tonight that the last couple he filmed in 2022 "will probably be it."