Former UFC champion Conor McGregor seems to be at war on all fronts, and he has picked another battle with countryman Paul Hughes.
Upcoming Irish star Paul Hughes fought well when he faced lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov. The fighter proved to be a worthy opponent, and even Nurmagomedov attested to this but in the end, Hughes lost after 25 minutes of the fight. Many fighters believe Hughes won the fight, but in the end, Nurmagomedov was crowned winner. After the bout, Hughes had some words with Usman Nurmagomedov’s coach–and Conor McGregor’s long-time rival– Khabib Nurmagomedov. He was heard telling the Daegstani, “I’m not like this other guy. I’m my own man.” McGregor misconstrued the statement and, thinking it was related to him, launched into a series of insults and disses on X that have since been deleted.
“DERRY IS IRELAND!
It is not true Irish behaviour to grovel at the hands of someone who has disrespected your nation’s flag and is playing a game right in your face as you bow and kiss feet. I am so embarrassed for him caught like that. Hughes, born in Oz, raised in Derry, trains in Florida. I don’t give a f*ck. No self-respecting Irish man would bow to a man who has disrespected his countrymen and women and their flag time and time again. He got caught as a weasel. Horrid stuff to see. Yuck.”
“Boot licker Hughes”
“I love you Dagestan. I’m not like that other bad Irish man. I can clean fields too”
These tweets were later deleted, but Hughes responded to McGregor with praise, but he was disappointed with his comments.
“It’s actually not like, I wasn’t offended at all.” Paul Hughes stated earlier today when asked about Conor McGregor’s comments. “Now, a lot of people, especially in the North of Irelan,d couldn’t be any more deeply offended at what he said… It sounds bad, but it seems like it’s just another day in his life of tweeting madness. It’s not like I saw that and thought ‘Oh wow, I can’t believe he said this about me’.”
“It seems like it’s just another day in the life for him. I don’t hold weight to his opinion anymore as to these sorts of things. It’s kind of a sad thing to say that, but that’s just the reality of how I felt… I’ve always paid Conor homage at every opportunity. I’ll always say that he’s the greatest to ever do it… It’s kind of a sad thing.”
“I’ve always shown respect to Conor at every opportunity. I’ve consistently called him the greatest to ever do it, and I’ll always believe that. But honestly, it just didn’t bother me coming from him because his words don’t carry the same weight anymore.”
“[McGregor] always said you were the GOAT, paid homage at every opportunity,” Hughes wrote. “But coming at my Irish identity just shows where your head is at.”
McGregor a former two-division UFC champion, has not fought since breaking his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. He was recently found liable for sexual assault in a civil case tied to a 2018 incident and is also facing another civil suit from an alleged sexual assault at a Miami Heat game in 2023.
