Conor McGregor in Dublin. An ESPN profile on the MMA fighter has been heavily criticized in the capital. RollingNews.ie

An American journalist’s profile of the Dublin community Conor McGregor grew up in has been mocked as “lazy stereotypical bull***t” and widely condemned.

Wright Thompson’s piece for ESPN totals some five thousand words, many of which are devoted to a portrayal of Dublin as a crime infested city, ruled by gangs.

The article begins with an account of “drug dealers” who spot Conor McGregor’s BMW and “couldn't believe” that the Dublin man had passed them by.

It’s unclear whether Wright Thompson actually visited Ireland for the piece but he confidently assures us that Dublin is “a clannish, parochial place. Crossing the wrong street has traditionally been reason enough for an ass-whipping. Men have had to drop dates off at bus stops instead of walking them all the way home.”

An alternative career path open to McGregor, we learn, was to become involved in gangs and although, “That world was always there for Conor... he never became the most charismatic and terrifying debt collector in the streets of Dublin. He and his friends knew they didn't want the paranoia or prison stints or early death that surely follows the selling of cocaine.”

One journalist who lives in the Crumlin area that McGregor grew up in derided the portrayal as “unrecognizable” and people on Twitter were also quick to question the accuracy of the piece.

Read more: 9 surprising stories behind Conor McGregor’s incredible success

But plenty of Americans enthused about the article.

Whilst his reputation certainly seems to have taken a battering in Ireland, at least his American readers haven’t taken offense.

H/T: ESPN