Conor McGregor looked completely out of place giving the Bruins a pump-up speech

This was so awkward.

Conor McGregor should be as comfortable in Boston for St. Patrick’s Day as he is in the octagon. And yet McGregor found a way to make it weird.

The fighter made an appearances in the Boston Bruins’ locker room to deliver a pump-up speech on Saturday night. McGregor seemed to immediately lose his audience by yelling, “When I say, ‘Boston,’ you say, ‘strong.'” He then led the Bruins in three rounds of that chant, with them looking bemused. The rest of the speech was fine — McGregor ranted about fighting, as it pertained to hockey, and every smiled through it.

Here’s the speech, which includes some explicit language.

But let’s get back to McGregor’s awkward use of the “Boston strong” chant. “Boston Strong” was originally a phrase used after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Since then, the phrase has evolved and taken on many associations. This usage felt out of place — very out of place. It was already strange for McGregor to warm up the Bruins, a group of grown men, with a call-and-response cheer. It was even stranger that McGregor picked that one.

“He had a nice few words for the guys before the game. A little different, we’re not used to that,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game, via WEEI.com.

McGregor seemed oblivious to the awkwardness, taking a victory lap about the “Boston strong” chant on Twitter, where someone called him out for amusing — rather than exciting — the Bruins. McGregor’s response was … unfocused.

That said, the Bruins did give McGregor some love during the game. Boston’s Brad Marchand did an honorary “Notorious” celebration for McGregor after scoring the overtime game-winner. So perhaps McGregor made a positive impression after all.