Getty Conor McGregor
No. 3-ranked UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori recently took aim at Irish fighting superstar Conor McGregor.
Vettori wrote that he hopes to see “scumbag” McGregor “soon,” after the former two-division UFC champion ripped Beneil Dariush. In a now-deleted tweet, McGregor wrote about his lightweight counterpart: “Beneil Dardush is the biggest nobody in the company.”
On May 25, MMA Fighting shared McGregor’s tweet on their page, writing: “Conor McGregor isn’t a Beneil Dariush fan.”
Well, Vettori saw the tweet and defended his Kings MMA training partner, writing: “What a b**** @TheNotoriousMMA. You couldn’t last 2 min with Beneil and that’s just a fact. You are scumbag, I hope to see you soon.”
McGregor’s Tweet May Have Been in Response to Dariush’s Recent Comments
McGregor sent the tweet out after Dariush’s interview with “The Fighter vs. The Writer’s” Damon Martin was published this week. During it, Dariush slammed Charles Oliveira for calling out McGregor instead of a top lightweight contender.
“I understand the media has their thing, the UFC has their part, but for him to be chasing a unicorn, it’s super frustrating,” Dariush said. “There’s two clear contenders in front of you, and you’re trying to chase a unicorn. No one knows when Conor is going to fight again. The guy might not even fight this year. Make it make sense. It just doesn’t make sense.”
McGregor is 0-2 in his last two fights, which took place against Dustin Poirier at lightweight in 2021. Dariush is riding a seven-fight win streak and is ranked No. 6 in the division, whereas McGregor is No. 8, as per the official UFC standings.
During the interview, Dariush said it was “hypocritical” that Oliveira would rather fight McGregor for the vacant 155-pound title than himself or someone like Islam Makhachev.
“He’s talking about wanting to fight Conor, and he talks about how these guys never gave him a shot when he was outside the top five, blah, blah, blah,” Dariush explained. “We were supposed to fight October of 2020. I have a fight contract, I can post a picture of it. I was supposed to fight Charles, and he pulled out of the fight, and then a couple months later, instead of fighting me, he fought Tony Ferguson. He said something about family issues and I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, he didn’t fight me, I can’t believe it.’ Family comes first, I understand that. But the same thing people did to him, he’s doing to me.
“He was supposed to fight me, bailed, ran and fought Tony Ferguson. Now, instead of fighting actual contenders, he wants to go fight Conor? He wants to go fight Nate Diaz? This is hypocritical. This is the only thing that’s bothering me.”
McGregor’s comeback timeline is still unclear, however it’s likely fans won’t see him back inside the Octagon until at least late 2022.
Vettori Wants to Fight Robert Whittaker During the UFC’s Paris Event in September
Vettori has been chomping at the bit to get back to action since his impressive unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa in October. He was scheduled to battle ex-UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next month at UFC 275, however “The Reaper” pulled out with an injury.
“The Italian Dream” has now shifted his focus to UFC Fight Night 214 on September 3 in Paris, France. “Alright so I guess since can’t find an opponent any earlier I’m fighting Whittaker in Paris,” Vettori tweeted on May 18. “You better show the f*** up this time. Lets do it, I’ve been waiting for too long now.”
Tagging Whittaker, Vettori then wrote: “Rob are we gonna do this yeah? No bulls***, that’s the date you wanted.”
“Let’s do this a 5 round fight,” he continued.