UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum labelled Conor McGregor a "sellout" on Wednesday and said that the Irish fighter would do anything for money.
McGregor remains the UFC featherweight champion despite losing to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 earlier in March.
He has had altercations in the past with a variety of Werdum's Brazilian compatriots—including snatching Jose Aldo's belt ahead of UFC 189—and the 38-year-old is clearly not happy with McGregor's constant attention-seeking antics, per Brazilian outlet Combate (via Lucas Rezende of BloodyElbow.com):
If we're even in the same place, I don't want him saying anything to me or trying to do anything to me. I won't just stand there. I'm not going to taunt him, but if he does, I will hit him with a chair, for real. If he tries to snatch my belt, I would first have a go at [UFC president] Dana White. I would go crazy, like a thug. In a staredown, you never touch your opponent. Everything is already so tense, and the guy goes and touches you?
Conor started out well, but then he went over the line, he started talking about Jesus. He just looks like a clown. In Brazil, we call them prostitutes, because they do anything for money. He's a sellout. Of course it's important to fight for money, but that guy will sell out for anything. I wouldn't doubt he would sell out his ass. I wouldn't do it.
McGregor was taken down a notch in his defeat to Diaz, forced to submit in the second round of their welterweight encounter, per BT Sport UFC:
OMG! @NateDiaz209 stops @TheNotoriousMMA! #UFC196 https://t.co/2zkb2yilsu
— BT Sport UFC (@btsportufc) March 6, 2016
However, he remains one of the biggest names in the sport, having finally taken Aldo's featherweight crown at UFC 194 after the longtime champion pulled out of the UFC 189 clash.
Indeed, McGregor knocked Aldo out in 13 seconds when they finally met, and the Brazilian immediately called for a rematch after his loss to Diaz (Warning: Contains NSFW language):
A photo posted by josealdojunioroficial (@josealdojunioroficial) on
Aldo is not the only one of his Brazilian opponents McGregor has wound up, with his comments to Rafael Dos Anjos likely to have rubbed Werdum the wrong way.
The Dubliner was meant to meet Dos Anjos in a lightweight title fight at UFC 196—but Dos Anjos pulled out with injury—and McGregor conjured up some graphic imagery in their pre-fight press conference, per the MailOnline's Martin Domin: "He's a slower version of Aldo, he's a bum version of Aldo. I will drag his head through the streets of Rio de Janeiro through a parade of people. It will become a national holiday. It's all about who's true and who's not. I see a man who, although he's Brazilian, does not represent Brazil as he should."
McGregor, 27, is unlikely to be overly bothered by Werdum's accusations about money.
He has never made any secret of his ambition to make money, and he said when making the jump up to welterweight to face Diaz that "the only weight I give a f--k about is the weight of the cheques, and my cheques are super-heavyweight," per Domin.
Hardly a subtle character, McGregor has always been a divisive figure within the UFC, and clearly, Werdum is not a fan.
Given their massive difference in weight class, the pair will never meet in the Octagon, but there could be fireworks anyway if they come across each other in different circumstances.
