By Victor Salazar

Two-time Irish Olympian Michael Conlan will make his pro debut the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day in the Theatre of Madison Square Garden. Conlan will have a special friend walking him out for his bout. That special friend is none other than UFC superstar Conor McGregor.

“Last time I checked - he said he was ok with it. We shook on it and he said he’ll be there. I’m delighted that he’s going to be there,” Conlan told BoxingScene.com. “It’s going to be great to have him there because he’s the biggest star in combat sports and I’m delighted he’d take some time out to be there in my debut.”

The two became friends after McGregor’s first fight with Nate Diaz in 2016, and Conlan was instrumental in getting McGregor the correct sparring partners in the second Diaz fight.

“I got him sparring partners for the second fight with Diaz so that may have been key in victory, getting him long tall boxing sparring partners, “ explained Conlan. “Since then our relationship, it's kind of flourished. We’re both people who talk with superior confidence. I’m not gonna start talking sh*t like he will but I’ll talk confident.”

Conlan may have had the most infamous moment (of the boxing portion) of the 2016 Rio Olympics, as many feel he was robbed in the bantamweight quarterfinals against Russian Vladimir Niktin.

The moment was so frustrating for Conlan that he shocked the local crowd when he threw up his middle fingers to the judges after the official scores were read. It was moment that may still remember, one that Conlan had to take advantage of.

“That worked out in my favor,” Conlan said of the Olympic moment. “At the time I thought it was going to be a bad thing. It’s put me in a position where I may have jumped ahead of other fighters, but I have to prove it's more than controversy.”

It Olympic moment was so memorable that when he signed his promotional agreement with Top Rank, company CEO Bob Arum was eager to relive the moment by standing side by side with Conlan - and flashing their middle fingers for the camera.

“It was Bob’s idea. I was happy to do, anything for the Bobfather.”