UFC star Conor McGregor has never been one to mince words, and he certainly isn't holding back his opinions prior to Saturday's UFC 189 clash with Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight championship.
The 26-year-old McGregor was originally scheduled to face champion Jose Aldo, but the latter was forced to withdraw from the contest due to a rib injury. Mendes has stepped up in his place, but both men have been on the receiving end of the Irishman's verbal barbs.
According to Joe Callaghan of the Independent, McGregor believes the fact that Aldo has been tweeting Mendes about the fight after dropping out is a sign of weakness:
(Aldo) didn't show up. Where's the pride? Where's the fighter in him? And then I see him sitting back and him and Chad tweeting back and forth like little buddies. ... When a man is close to death they try and bunch up and buddy up together. They know it's over for them. Let them be little pally pals. We are different people me and (Aldo). If he grows a set of balls, his time will come too. He will get it as well.
McGregor also piled on to Mendes for appealing to Aldo for the support of his fans, per Callaghan: "I think he is crumbling already to be honest. I see a forced persona. He's just different. And then the little back and forth tweets with Jose and he's talking in Brazilian, 'Can I have your fans' support please?' and all this b******t. What is that? That's coward s**t."
McGregor is referring to this tweet by Mendes in Brazilian before Aldo ultimately responded and made it clear that he was set to back McGregor's new challenger:
Despite McGregor's insistence that Mendes is scared, he has made it clear that he believes he will win at UFC 189, according to the UFC on Twitter:
The 17-2 McGregor is a 25-43 favorite to defeat Mendes, per OddsShark, but the American underdog is no pushover with a career record of 17-2 in his own right.
McGregor certainly seems to be winning the war of words leading up to the bout, as he so often does, but he may get more than he bargained for against a competitor of Mendes' caliber on such short notice.
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