In the conversation of best trash talkers and self-promoters in UFC history, Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen stand above all others for the interest they have been able to draw to their fights. And now the two are feuding with each other.
This past weekend, one of McGregor’s former (and perhaps future) foes, Max Holloway, headlined UFC Vegas 42, winning a unanimous decision over Yair Rodriguez. But before the fight even took place, McGregor posted a video of himself shirtless, pacing back and forth in front of his television as he watched the pre-fight announcements. The video got some fans talking about a possible rematch between the two former featherweight champions, a rematch Holloway himself has been tacitly calling for, but it also drew the ire of Sonnen, who ripped McGregor’s posturing on his own ESPN+ show.
“Conor is on the verge of being a little, rich weirdo,” Sonnen said. “It’s the last thing I wanted for him but if you mark out for your own gimmick to this extent, he’s posting things and then he’s deleting them – I’ve got to give the troll effort 100 percent. As a former troll myself, I get it. If there’s a UFC that you didn’t set foot at and you didn’t throw a single punch and you can steal a headline on ESPN, you’re doing something well, but in all fairness, Conor isn’t gonna step in there with Max anymore than he was gonna step in there with the guy last week, the week before that, or whoever he pulls out of his hat next week. He’s got to heal himself.
“There’s already talk of Dustin Poirier, who has smashed him twice. In all fairness, Conor is still a big draw but he’s really working against himself. He is being a weirdo. Is this what he wants as his identity? A guy walking around with his shirt off, screaming at his television set? Come on. When you’re 22 years old that’s one thing but as a husband and a father, you’re a little bit of a dork.”
Ever the promoter, Sonnen then posted a clip of his speech to Twitter and tagged McGregor, which in turn caused the former two-division champion to respond.
.@TheNotoriousMMA is turning into a little rich weirdo. pic.twitter.com/zoI4eHu5oa
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) November 15, 2021
As much as McGregor might like to claim he can’t be baited, “Notorious” has seemingly been feuding with everyone lately. Max Holloway, Daniel Cormier, Jorge Masvidal, and Petr Yan are just some of the big names McGregor has taken shots at recently, not including separate incidents with Machine Gun Kelly and Italian DJ Francesco Facchinetti. And when Sonnen hit back at McGregor, the former champ-champ couldn’t help himself from returning fire.
