Belal Muhammad and Sean O'Malley team up to mock Conor McGregor using "NFL" season opener: "Don’t let it distract you"
Conor McGregor has not entered the octagon in more than three years after breaking his leg at UFC 264 in July 2021.
'The Notorious' inactivity was the target of two UFC champions on Wednesday as Belal Muhammad and Sean O'Malley took aim at the former double champ.
'Remember the Name', who recently claimed the welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Leon Edwards at UFC 304, used the start of the NFL season as an opportunity to remind fans of McGregor's last win, tweeting:
"I know everyone’s excited the NFL season starts tomorrow but don’t let it distract you from the fact that Conor mcgregor hasn’t won a fight In 4 years and he sucks"
O'Malley, who will look to defend his bantamweight title for the second time when he faces Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in just over a week, responded to the tweet with a simple one-word response, claiming:
"True"
Check out the tweets from Belal Muhammad and Sean O'Malley below:
While McGregor remains the biggest star that mixed martial arts has ever seen, his glory days are slowly becoming a distant memory. 'The Notorious' has not won a bout since January 2020 when he defeated Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone via first-round TKO at UFC 246. It marks his only win since capturing the lightweight title via a second-round TKO victory over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 back in November 2016.
Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor is no longer the biggest star in the UFC
While Conor McGregor's stardom has not been matched by any active mixed martial artist, Chael Sonnen believes his inactivity has allowed Sean O'Malley to become the biggest star in the UFC. Speaking on his podcast, Beyond the Fight, the former three-time title challenger stated:
"O'Malley is the biggest star in our sport right now. And Red Panty Night is still real. Conor's not in the sport, he's not even licensed. Conor could not walk in and fight tonight if he wanted to. I'm just sharing with you, who's in the sport, it's one of those things. Conor has no more of a claim to this sport right now than [Georges] St-Pierre or Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. In fact, St-Pierre and Khabib have attended more UFCs in the last year than Conor."
Check out Chael Sonnen's comments on Conor McGregor below (starting at the 0:55 mark):
McGregor appeared set to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June, however, he was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a pinky toe injury. While he has expressed an interest in returning in December, it is unclear if the bout will be booked this year.