Conor McGregor strikes back with fury on Floyd Mayweather in May-Mac world tour Toronto stop

Things are heating up in the war of words between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.

The two went straight at each other today in Toronto for the second stop of “The Money Fight” world tour, jawing at each other – again without the aid of microphones – before being separated by their respective promoters to stick with boxing’s usual press conference script.

The audience wasn’t buying it, and neither was McGregor, who opened his amplified monologue with a tirade against Showtime for cutting his mic at the kickoff for the Aug. 26 fight in Los Angeles.

“Does this mic work?” McGregor started before batting over the podium mic. “Well then (expletive) that mic.”

Just minutes – actually, about an hour – after the fight’s pay-per-view broadcaster released a statement denying blame for McGregor’s microphone mishap, McGregor got Stephen Espinoza into the act, mean-mugging the Showtime exec and screaming, “I can see it in your eyes you’re a little weasel!”

The capacity crowd at Budweiser Stage loved it, just as they loved everything McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) said during the long-delayed sideshow. Even before Mayweather (49-0 boxing) stepped on the stage, they chanted, “pay your taxes!” referencing the boxing champ’s troubles with the IRS. And at every turn, they did their best to drown out everybody other than the UFC lightweight champ.

When Mayweather trotted out the backpack he used to show off a $100 million check received for his work against Manny Pacquiao, McGregor pounced, “What are you doing with a school bag on stage? You can’t even (expletive) read!”

McGregor taunted Mayweather about having 50 strippers on his payroll and laughed, “At least Rob Kardashian only had one!”

Mayweather, prowling the stage between his own attacks, challenged McGregor to put up his entire fight purse on Aug. 26.

“If you believe in yourself like you say you believe in yourself, bet your whole fight check, you (expletive),” Mayweather said.

“No problem,” McGregor replied. “Send the contract in.”

McGregor again barked a borderline racist order in “I want you to dance for me, boy.” Mayweather later countered by taking an Irish flag from a fan and draping it over his shoulders.

In turn, McGregor swiped Mayweather’s backpack and joked, “That’s it? There’s about $5,000 in here.” He promised a physical confrontation if the flag was defaced, but Mayweather didn’t go there.

Promoters White and Leonard Ellerbe watched from the sidelines, grinning ear to ear as the fighters taunted each other.

Just like the first presser, McGregor and Mayweather went face to face to send off another whacky encounter with a round of trash talk.

Two down and two to go for the circus.

For more on “The Money Fight: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor,” check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.