Conor McGregor's somewhat bizarre war of words with UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum goes back to December when the heavyweight champ claimed that McGregor had asked to train at Rafael Cordeiro's Kings MMA gym in California ahead of UFC 194.
Werdum's claim was dismissed by McGregor's camp as pure and utter nonsense and now that he's aiming for Rafael dos Anjos, who fights out of Kings MMA, that spat between Werdum and McGregor is being brought back to the fore again.
Speaking at the first UFC 196 press conference, McGregor was asked about wanting to train at the California gym and he was less than enthusiastic about the question.
Why would I want to train in that bum gym? [Werdum] needs to get his facts straight before I roll in there and buy that gym and turn it into a dump.
That was all well and good but the unlikely rivalry took another step forward this weekend when McGregor took another dig at Werdum during that vitriolic speech at the MMA Awards over the weekend.
Explaining why 'the game is on its knees', the Dubliner pointed to Werdum's recent decision to pull out of what was supposed to be UFC 196.
You've got the heavyweight champion who's a pussy pulling out with a sore toe. How's the heavyweight champion going to pull out with a sore toe? What kind of champion is that?
We're assuming that's a rhetorical question but it seems he's the kind of champion who's more than willing to engage in a bit of nonsensical social media buffoonery with McGregor.
So here's his response in the form of a photoshopped image of a famous incident between Rio Ferdinand and Carlos Tevez. Werdum, for his part, has added clarity to the image in which he is suggesting that McGregor is deriving pleasure from the encounter to such an extent that he has transferred his love from Dana White to the heavyweight champ.
Delightful. (Continued below)
If anything, Werdum has just gone and proved Conor McGregor 100% correct. The fact that the heavyweight champ is even bothering to get involved is proof that the entire UFC roster apparently needs McGregor to sell fights. Leaving aside the pageantry, it's blatantly obvious that all this is a cheap ploy to give a bit of global appeal to a division that's been lacking a big name since Brock Lesnar's departure.
The UFC want their heavyweights to get in on this new fanbase so the champ builds up a war of words with McGregor even though it makes no sense whatsoever. 'I need to feed every one you in the game' indeed.
