Filthy Tom Lawlor is no stranger to a bit of craic.
The UFC light heavyweight has made a name for himself as one of the most entertaining characters on the UFC roster with his WWE-esque interviews and proclivity for unusual walk-out attire.
Having appeared in the past dressed as Steven Seagal, Apollo Creed and Dan Severn, Lawlor was at a loss as to how to amuse the masses when coming out for the weigh-ins of UFC Chicago due to the new Reebok deal which requires fighters to exclusively wear gear designed by the apparel giant.
But then he had a stroke of genius.
“My plan was to be Conor McGregor at the weigh-ins,” Lawlor told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
“I had asked if I could wear the Conor McGregor fight kit. They give you the Reebok stuff and they said ‘do you have any questions?’ and I said ‘yes, I have a question… Can I wear Conor McGregor’s fight kit?’
“And the way it was met to me was ‘why would you want to do that? Why would anyone want to do that? Don’t you want your family to buy these jerseys with your name on them?’
“Right there it kind of clued me in that perhaps the people that were in charge of some of the stuff weren’t as familiar with the product as I would have liked.
“It was just the way the reaction was when I asked that question kind of upset me. From that point on, I was pissed the whole week.”
Having been censored by the Reebok officials, Lawlor was forced to come up with a new plan and opted to wear as much Reebok gear as possible to the scales, donning five t-shirts and three pairs of shorts.
“I did not wear all of it,” Lawlor said. “I think there were two more pairs of socks and three more pairs of underwear but it got to the point where I thought ‘if I really go out there and put everything on in this bag, somebody might get pissed at me and there might be some backlash so let me tone it down a little bit.’
“I was actually, at one point, going to put another pair of shoes on my hands and walk out on all fours like Khabib Nurmagomedov’s buddy the bear but, unfortunately, I’ve got to save something for the future now.”
We personally can’t wait to see how Lawlor dodges these new Reebok rules in the coming events.
