Getty Conor McGregor isn't interested in fight Jake Paul right now, but that could change someday soon.
UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is heading into an important rematch against Jorge Masvidal on April 24, but the fighter seems at least partially interested in drumming up a potential superfight against Conor McGregor. Why else would Usman so blatantly be stealing the Irish superstar’s signature catchphrases? And why else would his manager Ali Abdelaziz lob so much criticism at McGregor in the immediate aftermath in an interview with TMZ Sports?
“Conor McGregor is the biggest piece of s*** scumbag in the sport,” Abdelaziz told TMZ Sports. “Kamaru Usman…if you have a problem with him, fight the man!”
Abdelaziz claimed McGregor was afraid of locking horns with Usman in the UFC’s 170-pound division, and that he would only dare to say critical things about the welterweight champ via social media.
“But we know Conor doesn’t have the balls…he’s not enough of a man to fight anything like Kamaru,” Abdelaziz said.
Abdelaziz was responding to McGregor’s recent post on Twitter about Usman seemingly copying one of the Irish superstar’s signature catchphrases. McGregor posted, “Am I tripping or is this jackass always at this? Everything I say.”.
McGregor saw Usman using the “green panty night” phrase in the champ’s latest interview with ESPN, and it seems to have been borrowed from McGregor’s famous “red panty night” phrase the fighter first used back in 2016.
Regardless, McGregor is on his way to facing Dustin Poirier this summer, and Usman is set for his own rematch against Masvidal at UFC 261.
Usman would likely be a huge favorite on the betting market over McGregor, but that fight isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.
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Usman Threatened McGregor Via Social Media in 2020
Last year, one of the biggest UFC rumors going around the Internet was about McGregor potentially moving up in weight to challenge for the UFC welterweight championship.
Keep in mind this was well before McGregor was stopped by Poirier at UFC 257 in a lightweight bout, and that the only recent information people had in their minds about McGregor was him stopping Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in less than a minute in a welterweight bout at UFC 246.
Usman eventually responded to those rumors via social media. He posted, “I really don’t understand why you all want this man DEAD!!!”.
I really don’t understand why you all want this man DEAD!!! I’d shag him in there if I wanted and he’d “DO NOTHIN” FOH 😒
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Usman vs. McGregor Isn’t Likely
Usman’s tweet sent shockwaves through the MMA community, but Usman vs. McGregor never materialized and never really came close to being a legitimate possibility. The idea that the fight could happen in 2021 seems even less reasonable now after both fighters enjoyed very different outings in recent history.
Over his last two fights, Usman has solidified his standing near the top of the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings. Arguably the most dominant UFC champion in the world now that Khabib Nurmagomedov is retired, Usman beat Masvidal by decision at UFC 251 in 2020 and began 2021 by stopping dangerous contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 258.
Meanwhile, McGregor is coming off a shocking stoppage loss to Poirier at UFC 257, and pundits such as ESPN’s Brett Okamoto have suggested the superstar’s legacy is on the line in the upcoming rematch.
McGregor is 2-1 as a welterweight. He split fights with Nate Diaz in 2016 and beat Cerrone in 2020. That’s solid for an MMA fighter who began his career in the UFC’s 145-pound featherweight division, but not anywhere near elite for the stacked 170-pound division.
The fighter and his fans might enjoy thinking about a stunning move up to challenge for UFC gold in a third division, and Usman and his team might badly want the megafight to happen, but Usman vs. McGregor isn’t nearly close to becoming a reality.
The most likely scenario? It will never happen.
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