Conor McGregor and Kamaru Usman have just had their first proper war of words.
The seeds of a potential Kamaru Usman vs. Conor McGregor bout is sprouting more and more by the hour. Earlier today, McGregor put the Nigerian American on notice that he is coming for the welterweight championship. This marked the first time McGregor directly expressed interest in fighting Usman. McGregor has earned a bit of a reputation for calling out fighters immediately following their win, so it would be sensible to not read too much into the Irishman’s vow and take it with a grain of salt. That is not what Kamaru Usman chose to do.
Conor McGregor & Kamaru Usman Engage In Brief War of Words
Not usually one to get involved in Twitter drama since his days as a rising contender, Kamaru Usman, like all fighters before him, could not resist replying to McGregor after the Irishman called them out. Sunday evening, Usman issued a reply to McGregor’s accusation that the welterweight champ ripped off his striking style along with his quotes.
“Except when I touch you at 170, they go out. They don’t even go out at 155 anymore for you. I finish people. You get finished.”
Who would have thought that we would see the day where Kamaru Usman is shaming Conor McGregor for his lack of finishing ability? Coming off his second straight finish of the year at UFC 261, Usman felt emboldened to do so, especially since McGregor was the finishee instead of the finisher in his most recent bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. McGregor would then issue the following response to Usman:
“Relax there, carbuncles. You big spotty back pox. You were ringside last time I fought at 170. 40 seconds is all it took. Why did you reschedule Burns fight? What was the reason, that was never given to the public, why that already signed fight was then rescheduled?”
McGregor is referring to the fact that Kamaru Usman’s fight against Gilbert Burns was originally scheduled to take place at UFC 256 in December 2020 only to be moved back to February at Usman’s request. Usman shrugged off McGregor’s interrogation and instead reminded him of his silence when the champion offered him a title shot last year after McGregor teased a run at welterweight gold.
“I offered you the fight and you went missing. Let’s stay humble young man. I already took your pride. Don’t make me take your whiskey too,” Usman replied.
McGregor did not address Usman’s retort directly, but as of this writing, he got the last word in this initial Twitter exchange between the two with the following tweets:
“Never in all my time in this business, which is long before all of these fucking bums, have I ever seen a signed fight get rescheduled with no reason given whatsoever. So said fighter can recover from “undisclosed injuries”. Excuse me what? The fight is signed/sealed/tix sold.”
“Fuck these juice heads anyway, I don’t give a bollox. I’m just calling it as it is. I’ve the biggest balls in Ireland with two lump hammers attached to me elbows. Send me in and I’ll pop that big pimple. Get 3 belts to go with my 3 commas.”
That makes two steroid accusations for McGregor within a one-week span. In fact, today marks one week to the day since he accused Nate Diaz of taking steroids. Kamaru Usman has never tested positive for a drug test or had any publicized issues with USADA at all, so perhaps McGregor is making a judgment call based on the eye test.
In any event, should McGregor get past Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, there is now reason to question if he will opt to fight the winner of Chandler/Oliveira next or instead look to conquer the welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
Who do you think got the better of this first Twitter exchange between Conor McGregor and Kamaru Usman?