Conor McGregor has slammed fellow two-weight world champion Henry Cejudo as a "fat novice" after the retired fighter critiqued his recent boxing footage.
The Irishman has returned to the ring at the Crumlin Boxing Club in Dublin over the past few weeks to continue his recovery from a broken leg, and has posted footage of his pad work to social media. But he came under fierce criticism from some fans, as well as fighters such as Cejudo who mocked his form.
Both Cejudo and McGregor are former two-division world champions, with the Irishman winning gold at featherweight and lightweight while the American won at flyweight and bantamweight. And they have had a running rivalry in recent weeks as their back-and-forth social media messages continue.
“Everything is done naked,” Cejudo wrote in response to McGregor's video. “No fakes, no faints, no level changes. But you think you're going to get a different result. You work too much on combinations where you should be working entries, set ups, and setting traps. Just a tip from the goat [greatest of all time].”
McGregor was unhappy to receive such advice from Cejudo, who was known more for his wrestling than his striking; coming to MMA after winning a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. He hit back at the former fighter, who retired in 2020, by blasting his knockout record and referring to him as a "fat novice".
“The opening punches are the traps/feints/fakes,” McGregor responded. “You ever hear or see that before? Your little feints won’t draw me out, kid. But pump a few real shots you might get a response. You are a little fat novice with about 2 KOs [Cejudo landed 8 in his 16 wins]. At bantam. I’ve 20 [McGregor has 19]. Across 3 divisions. Quiet, you bum!”
McGregor had declared that his punches were "the stuff nightmares are made of", which prompted his old rival Dustin Poirier to hit back with a gif telling the Irishman to "stop it". Poirier was knocked out within two minutes of his first fight with McGregor in 2014, but stopped him the two times they fought last year.
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However, some in the MMA community were less critical of the Dublin fighter's technique. Former light heavyweight and middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen described him as looking "powerful", as opposed to what many had seen in the brief footage.
"When Conor put the video out three-to-five weeks ago, everybody including Jake Paul weighed in on it saying how bad Conor looked," Sonnen said in a video on his YouTube channel. "It wasn't what I saw.
"I didn't think he looked bad. I saw a lot of things there. I saw power, I saw timing. I know the level of conditioning - when I see Conor doing it, I saw a powerful man. I saw his body, he had his shirt off. I looked specifically at his belly which was as lean as can be."
