Conor McGregor has been mocked by fans over his claim that he will "crush heads" when he returns to the octagon later this year.
The Irishman has been out of action since July of last year, when he suffered a gruesome broken leg in his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier. But he has been ramping up preparations for his comeback, and has vowed to be unstoppable when he steps in the cage again.
However, fans are unconvinced about McGregor's claims, given his less than stellar record over the past half a decade since his lightweight title win in 2016. The former two-weight world champion has gone 1-3 since the historic feat, as well as losing his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather in a spirited Las Vegas showing.
The comments section on his latest Instagram post was full of mocking replies to his recent video hitting pads at the Crumlin Boxing Club. He captioned the video: "I’m going to crush a head with these. Add it to the list of heads."
And one commenter responded with his famous catchphrase "you'll do nothing", with another imploring him to take up the offer of Khamzat Chimaev and Darren Till to join them in their training camp. One fan noted that McGregor looked "sloppy sloppy sloppy" in the brief video.
McGregor is expected to return to full-contact sparring this month, when he will finally reunite with long-time coach John Kavanagh at SBG Ireland HQ. He is currently only able to hit pads with his hands, hence the decision to temporarily relocate to his childhood boxing gym.
But one fan believes that he is going to "need to stop training with yes men" if he ever plans to get another win in the UFC. That comment proved popular, garnering nearly 200 likes, with one person responding "I believe Eddie Reynoso invited him to his gym. As well as Khamzat Chimaev. He should really take on at least one of these offers."
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McGregor's current plan is to return to the octagon to a welterweight title fight against the seemingly unbeatable champion Kamaru Usman. The Nigerian hasn't lost in the UFC, and has beaten almost the entire list of top contenders at his weight class of 170lb.
But the Irishman isn't afraid of him, insisting that he is a "sloppy wrestler", and declaring that he has nothing to worry about against the current pound-for-pound No.1 fighter in the sport. McGregor's last win came against Donald Cerrone in 2020 at UFC 246, and he has since lost twice to Dustin Poirier.
He will have to wait for that title shot until after Leon Edwards, a stablemate of his at Paradigm Sports, gets his opportunity later this year. Usman is currently sidelined with a hand injury, but has said that he would happily face McGregor in future, branding the Irishman a "clout chaser"
