Most of the MMA world was shocked by what happened on Saturday night. UFC men’s pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman was looking good en route to his sixth UFC welterweight title defense before being caught by Leon Edwards with a perfect headbutt.
Since that fifth round KO, a lot of people have thought about what they saw. Two people who seemed excited about what happened were former UFC champion Conor McGregor and professional martial arts troll Jake Paul.
Both men have engaged in trash talk with Usman in the past, and both were quick to taunt “The Nigerian Nightmare” for losing his belt.
“Who’s pound for pound now?” McGregor asked in a tweet, before replying that he (a fighter who’s been 2-3 in his last five fights) deserves the label.
Another tweet from McGregor was even more youthful (see below).
Paul’s offer on the matter was about as clever as McGregor’s.
Belal Muhammad, the fifth-ranked UFC welterweight who is scheduled to face Sean Brady at UFC 280 in October, ignored those answers. He was a recent guest on MMA Fighting’s Fighter vs. Writer podcast.
On that show he beat up McGregor for attacking Usman while he was downstairs.
“Even Conor McGregor, where you know how it feels to lose in a championship fight, you know how it feels to lose in front of family, man,” he said (ht Sportskeeda). “These guys kicking a guy when he’s down just shows what kind of person they are. They’re just looking for that attention. Conor McGregor is looking for that attention, Jake Paul is looking for that attention.”
“Karma will come back to you,” Muhammad continued. “Especially a guy like Conor where you literally haven’t won a fight in five years, all you do is tweet when there’s a big fight coming up. You can have all the money in the world, but you’ve run out of attention and that’s what you crave the most. You no longer have anyone screaming your name and that is what you want most. So it just goes to show… it’s kind of pathetic where the boys are now.
McGregor’s last win in the Octagon was at UFC 246 in 2020, a quick TKO by Donald Cerrone. Before that, his last win was in 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Title.
McGregor’s last appearance ended with Dustin Poirier breaking his leg. Since then, McGregor has been rehabilitating his injury, getting into scuffles with celebrities and tweeting abuse at his rivals.
It had been hinted that McGregor could return to the cage this year. However, his manager recently claimed that 2023 is a more likely return date for The Notorious.