Conor McGregor's storming of the cage at last weekend's Bellator event in Dublin was discussed on Brendan O'Connor's Cutting Edge on RTÉ One last night.
Former RTÉ political correspondent David Davin-Power called McGregor's apology for entering the cage and laying a hand on referee Marc Goddard "typically illiterate and ungrammatical."
Davin-Power believes that McGregor is "fundamentally bad for this country".
I think he's a bully and that he represents all that's wrong about society post the crash. I think he's an icon, a kind of love/hate icon if you know what I mean. I think that he represents all the polarisation and all the coarseness and all the bile that has infused society via social media over the last ten years.
When you think what he's gotten away with in terms of misogyny and homophobia, anybody - you or I - would be pilloried, we'd be out of a job if we said half the things he did.
Davin-Power, who was RTÉ political correspondent for 16 years, described McGregor's apology for referring to fellow MMA fighter Andre Fili as a "faggot" as "mealy-mouthed".
Davin-Power did also call McGregor as a superb athlete. He watched the 29-year-old's August bout against Floyd Mayweather, commending him for surpassing expectations.
McGregor's day job - MMA - he feels is probably just a "flash in the pan", something he thinks may also be true of the image of Ireland McGregor portrays in the US.
It's a shame that when this society is getting back on its feet that he's the type of role model that's put forward internationally. Make no mistake about it, he is a huge, huge seller for this country. He is huge abroad.
'I think he's a bully' David Davin Power gives his thoughts on Conor McGregor & our panel are very divided on it. #CuttingEdge is live now pic.twitter.com/GbTxRbTNf8
— Cutting Edge (@CuttingEdgeRTE) November 15, 2017
