Ali Abdelaziz accuses Conor McGregor of turning down a fight against Justin Gaethje
Conor McGregor and Kamaru Usman exchanged in a war of words on Twitter recently. The banter attracted the attention of Ali Abdelaziz, the CEO of Dominance MMA who manages Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje. He also managed Khabib Nurmagomedov during his time in the UFC.
Conor McGregor eventually involved Usman's teammate Justin Gaethje by mocking 'The Highlight' with a photo from many years ago. Ali Abdelaziz responded by saying that 'Notorious' turned down a fight against Justin Gaethje when he had the chance.
The interesting thing here is that there might be some truth to this statement. Back in September 2020, Conor McGregor engaged in a very public spat with UFC president Dana White by publishing some of their private messages on social media. Naturally, the UFC's head honcho wasn't happy about this turn of events.
Justin Gaethje chimed in by backing up the UFC president, saying McGregor had the opportunity to fight 'The Highlight' in January of that year when Gaethje called 'Notorious' out, but the latter never responded.
Interestingly enough, Conor chose to fight Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone at welterweight that January, instead of fighting a high-ranked lightweight like Justin Gaethje.
Conor McGregor was ranked in the top five of the lightweight division at the time but was unranked in welterweight. So his choice of opponent was definitely interesting, to say the least.
We can't really say how much truth there is to the claim that McGregor chose not to fight Gaethje back in January of 2020. But it has been said before that Conor McGregor gets to pick and choose his opponents owing to his star power.
Dan Hooker recently reiterated the same in an interview with Submission Radio. However, he also said that Justin Gaethje had an opportunity to fight Conor McGregor this year, but blew it by passing a comment about how McGregor was a bad husband. On hearing this, 'Notorious' decided to change his mind and shifted his choice of opponent to Dustin Poirier instead.
Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will face off at UFC 264 on July 10th for their trilogy bout. Poirier is confident he will beat McGregor while 'Notorious' desperately needs to win because he currently has a 1-2 record at lightweight.
Conor McGregor attacks Kamaru Usman in Twitter tirade:
In a recent post on social media, Conor McGregor claimed that Kamaru Usman "copied his moves" to knock out Jorge Masvidal. The Irishman seems to think he owns a patent on the hook-to-cross combination.
McGregor went as far as to say that he will fight Usman for the welterweight belt. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' fired back saying he knocks people out at 170 pounds and that 'Notorious' turned down the fight when Usman offered it to him.
The social media back-and-forth continued, in typical Conor McGregor fashion. This isn't the first time McGregor has tried to steer the spotlight away from a pay-per-view event or fighter. Naturally, Usman's manager Ali Abdelaziz chimed in owing to the history he has with Conor McGregor.
For now, Conor McGregor desperately needs to relax his Twitter fingers and focus on his fight with Dustin Poirier. His fans also made it known that he would not last in the octagon against 'The Nigerian Nightmare'. If McGregor loses to Poirier, we could very well see him retire from MMA.