Conor McGregor has been criticised for a now-deleted video which showed him stumbling around outside The Ultimate Fighter house.
McGregor, 34, is gearing up to make his UFC return as he will fight Michael Chandler later this year after coaching against his rival on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. A date or location for McGregor's comeback fight is yet-to-be-announced, but it's expected to take place after August as the Irishman will need to complete six months of mandatory drug testing before fighting again.
The former two-weight world champion is currently in Las Vegas to complete filming for The Ultimate Fighter, which airs on TV from May to August. McGregor posted a video on Instagram in which he stumbled around outside The Ultimate Fighter house and MMA analyst Chael Sonnen has labelled the now-deleted video as "weird".
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“Drunk Conor McGregor at The Ultimate Fighter house, video slipped out. I’m trusting you guys saw it, he made it. He was leaving the house, stumbling out drunk,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “He said something, but I couldn’t make it out. Getting drunk appears to make Conor really weird. Does a drunk Conor McGregor stumbling around The Ultimate Fighter set interest you? I’ve never felt that they go hand in hand. Co-mingling sport with some kind of substance abuse, I just think it's weird."
McGregor hasn't fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in their July 2021 trilogy fight. The Irishman worried fans last year by posting several videos of him drinking and partying, putting his fighting return in doubt. McGregor reassured fans that he is feeling good ahead of his comeback fight as he told Mirror Fighting: "I'm looking forward to it, I feel energetic, I feel ready."
Sonnen thinks the now-deleted video of McGregor doesn't show him in a good light, especially for the fighters he is coaching. "If you’re gonna be drunk Conor, you shouldn’t be drunk Conor in a mentor position over at The Ultimate Fighter house. They don’t need to see you that way. It doesn’t matter who the guy is, if he’s coaching you, he’s not one of you," Sonnen added.
"What part of that do we see as mentorship? What part do we start to judge Conor and say, ‘Okay, you’re not taking this serious.’ Leadership 101 is not, ‘I come over, put the troops in a tough situation, then hit the door and go to a good one myself.'"
