As the biggest superstar in the sport, Conor McGregor receives different treatment from his fellow fighters.
One cost of the fame is that his every action is magnified. Anything he utters finds more ears and anything he does finds more eyes than anyone else in the game.
A prime example is what went down backstage in Gdansk. Let's be clear, McGregor's use of the
six-letter f-word to Artem Lobov was wrong. The man himself admitted as much
in his apology. However, he wasn't the first UFC fighter to drop the gay slur and sadly, he's unlikely to be the last.
Colby Covington called Fabricio Werdum the f-word in an Instagram Live video, Michael Bisping said it to Luke Rockhold after UFC 199 and Nate Diaz was suspended by the UFC in 2013 for calling Bryan Carraway "the biggest fag in the world" in a tweet. While the other examples may be news to some people reading this, pretty much everyone will remember the McGregor debacle.
McGregor's controversy wasn't necessarily more egregious than the aforementioned examples. The increased spotlight shone on him, in every situation, not just this particular one, can be directly attributed to the fame.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/980905459774353408
The talk
"People are always saying about the talk and I talk and I talk and I talk, but guess fucking what? I back it up! I back it up!" Conor McGregor at the UFC GO BIG press conference, 2015.
The problem with claiming the ability to back up every vow you make is that when you cannot follow through on something, everyone will jump on you. McGregor is currently experiencing this over a tweet he sent in March.
His 'stay ready' tweet was very obviously another iteration of his quote, 'I stay ready, so I don't have to get ready.' Whether or not he was ready to save UFC 223, the
promotion certainly wasn't ready to throw him in against Khabib Nuragomedov on six days' notice. Instead, featherweight champion Max Holloway was given the call.
https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/977373326699122688
That pesky magnifying glass
McGregor never said, at least publicly, that he would be ready to step in and save the day on April 7. One man who did was Eddie Alvarez who actually announced on the MMA Hour, "
somebody might get scrapped, so I’ll be ready for that.”
Alvarez was contacted by the promotion when Ferguson pulled out, but was unable make good on his promise because he
was too heavy. He held up his hand and took responsibility for not being able to back up the talk. Despite this, very few people are tearing into 'the Underground King' quite like they are with McGregor.
Both Nurmagomedov and his manager Ali Abdelaziz have thrown McGregor's words back in his face.
https://twitter.com/TeamKhabib/status/980519909972152321
https://twitter.com/AliAbdelaziz00/status/980600635384123393
And, of course, Ferguson is the latest to get in on the act. With cringeworthy execution, he quoted the tweet in response to McGregor's infamous
dick joke.
https://twitter.com/TonyFergusonXT/status/981263881984139264
For what it's worth, Dana White claimed he wanted McGregor to promote his return properly. So, bringing him in as a late notice replacement wasn't an option in his eyes.
We sincerely doubt this will be the last we hear of it. That McGregor tweet has given his rivals trash talk fuel for the foreseeable future. We can add it to the list of
hackneyed insults referring to his submission losses and the perception that he is a 'clown'.
