Philly McMahon says he would love to follow in Conor McGregor's footsteps after he retires from inter-county football.

The corner back is a big fan of fellow Dubliner and UFC star McGregor, whose success has sparked a huge uptake in Mixed Martial Arts in this country.

"Yeah, definitely, it's one of those things you'd love to do," the Ballymun Kickhams clubman is quoted in the Irish Sun.

"But you wouldn't be able when you're playing. I think the most interesting thing for me is to go and do a sport where you've no back-up from your friends. That's a big statement for anybody, to step into the ring and say, 'It's me against you' - I think that's a great thing.

"So it interests me massively, whether I'm too old when I finish my career, that'll be another question to answer."

McMahon revealed how his interest in MMA  was sparked by McGregor's pad man Owen Roddy, who used to rent one of his BK Fitness gyms.

"I did a bit of boxing when I was a kid, then it kind of went out of me," he explained.

"Then when MMA started to pop up in Ireland, a friend of mine who is the pad man of McGregor, wanted to set up an MMA gym in my gym.

"He was renting my studio to do that. So I got more involved in it that way because I had the time to do ti because I was in the gym the whole time.

"But outside of that, I didn't have the time to train. So when he went and set up his own premises then, I only got up to it when it was the off-season."

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