For all intents and purposes, Conor McGregor first fight upon returning to the Octagon from a severe injury is supposed to be fellow The Ultimate Fighter coach Michael Chandler. But following UFC 291, he took aim at new BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje, saying “f**k Chandler.”
So what gives? McGregor has been dragging his feet on returning to the UFC anti-doping protocol testing pools managed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has to be in that program with clean results for six months before he can fight.
As of the time of publication of this article on Saturday night, McGregor had yet to be tested by USADA since 2021.
What did Conor McGregor say in his Justin Gaethje UFC 291 BMF callout?
So even though the focus has been on McGregor fighting Chandler, everyone is starting to lose interest. Or at least, they believe that McGregor has.
That couldn’t be more evident than when McGregor made pointed comments at Gaethje following UFC 291.
“Justin, I’ll slap you around,” he wrote on Twitter.
He then followed with: “I’m the real bmf, he can fight for pennies if he wants but I want spirits, I call the shots, I’m in it to launch shots, f**k chandler, you want it call for it.”
McGregor then added, “Is mise bad mother f**ker conas atá tú?” Which loosely translates to “I”m a bad mother f**ker, are you?”
Justin Gaethje’s response to Conor McGregor’s post-UFC 291 BMF callout
In his UFC 291 post-fight press conference interview, Gaethje seemed less than impressed by McGregor. He realizes that McGregor is the UFC money fight that everyone covets. It comes with an intense spotlight, mass attention, and many, many extra dollar bills.
But with McGregor taking so long to return from his recovery, often posting photos of his engorged physique, and his hesitation to re-enter the USADA UFC athlete drug testing pool, Gaethje believes there is fire where there is smoke. And he wants no part of jumping into that fire.
“I think he’s turned me down six times and usually you have to lose to fight him, so I don’t know what’s going on,” Gaethje said following UFC 291.
“I don’t really care (about McGregor’s callout),” he continued. “I like to fight big fights. I like exciting things. It sounds pretty exciting to me. (But) I’m not gonna fight someone on steroids. I’ve never taken steroids and I don’t want to fight someone that’s cheating. So, I probably shouldn’t even say that if I want the fight, but it’s the truth.”
Justin Gaethje addresses Conor McGregor at UFC 291 post-fight press conference
https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufcnews/conor-mcgregor-calls-out-justin-gaethje-writes-off-michael-chandler
