Audio After The Jump
UFC Featherweight champion Conor McGregor is still seething over Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comments that race has helped him achieve stardom faster than he would have if he wasn't white.
During a media conference call for McGregor's upcoming bout at UFC 197 on March 5, for Rafael dos Anjos' lightweight title, the Irish fighter was asked about Mayweather's opinion.
“I think Floyd needs to learn before he opens his mouth,” McGregor said. “You don’t put a man like me in a situation like that. You are putting me in a name that has got to do with prejudice when you don’t know nothing about me. I am a multi-cultural individual. I take from all cultures. I am a product of many cultures as a young Irish man. I know he wasn’t saying I am (racist), but he was putting me in that bracket. I didn’t appreciate that one bit. There’s people buried in the desert for less than that. Floyd needs to understand before he speaks who he is speaking about, and that is that.”
As we previously reported, this beef began when Mayweather spoke to Fighthype earlier this month when the subject of McGregor and Ronda Rousey's rapid ascension to stardom came up.
The former boxing champion believes racial bias still exists in combat sports and played a part in the two UFC fighter's success.
"Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing. Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating too. After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn't even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies and everything," Mayweather said at the time. "Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion. Ronda Rousey, she's a good looking woman when she put it on. Laila Ali is a drop-dead gorgeous woman; I mean a naturally beautiful woman and can kick ass, but you never heard them [the media] saying when she had I think somewhere around 10, 11, 12 fights that she was the baddest woman to ever fight on the planet. And what's so crazy, I don't really know the McGregor guy; never seen him fight. I heard his name actually from one of the runners that works for our company; a little kid named Ken Hopkins, he's a runner and takes care of a lot of the daily business. Whatever we need, he takes care of. He's a cool little kid, I like him, and he does MMA. He told me about the guy McGregor. They say he talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I'm cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I'm saying is this, I ain't racist at all, but I'm telling you racism still exists."
McGregor responded with a lengthy post on his Facebook page, challenging Mayweather fo a fight.
"Floyd Mayweather, don't ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood," McGregor wrote. "In my family's long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name 'McGregor' was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. If you want we can organize a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favor seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue. At 27 years of age I now hold the key to this game. The game answers to me now."
What's your take on this beef and McGregor's latest comments?
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