'He's a wonderful person': Boxing legend Mike Tyson backs Conor McGregor after viral assault video

Conor McGregor has "earned a shot at redemption" according to former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson, who said the Irish former UFC champ deserves the chance to put his recent scandals behind him.

McGregor took part in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN's Ariel Helwani late on Thursday in which he discussed the incident which took place in a Dublin bar last April, a video of which appeared to show the former UFC champion throw a punch at another man.

After footage of that incident was leaked by TMZ in recent days, the same outlet doorstepped Mike Tyson to ask him his thoughts on the notorious Dubliner - and the boxing great was full of praise for his fellow prizefighter.

"He's a wonderful person," Tyson said of McGregor's apology. "He's a really kind man and he's gonna get good karma for that. I believe that."

If Tyson is indeed of this opinion, it seems he is in the minority. McGregor has been slammed by many sections of the media for his highly-publicized outside-of-the-cage incidents over the last 18 months, which have seen him arrested in both New York City and Miami for various (relatively minor) offences, and only appeared with Helwani on ESPN to, in many people's eyes, help launder his character.

And it is doing the trick, when it comes to Tyson at least, who said that McGregor has "earned" his chance at redemption.

Tyson's kind words for McGregor come some months after the two world champions met in Dublin after the boxer had a speaking engagement in the Irish capital.

"I will always have the height of respect for you," McGregor said of Tyson in a social media post shortly after their November 2018 meeting. "I love you, Mike! Iron Mike Tyson!"

Of course, Tyson is no stranger to the concept of rehabilitating a reputation; it is something he undertook himself after serving less than three years of a six-year prison sentence for sexual assault in the mid-90's.