Tom Aspinall has vowed to leave "scary" Conor McGregor alone after the UFC superstar sent him a death threat.
McGregor has not fought since breaking his leg during his defeat by Dustin Poirier in July 2021, but following extensive rehabilitation he is now ready to breathe new life into his UFC career. The Irishman announced his comeback fight against Michael Chandler as part of the promotion's latest series of The Ultimate Fighter.
Aspinall was critical of McGregor's return showdown with Chandler, admitting he was more interested in some of the other fight cards including the latest instalment of UFC London. McGregor didn't take kindly to his words and promptly tweeted: "Bum p***k. Say sayonara to that Gym King deal kid.
"Starve you and kill you I will you f***ing disrespectful p***k. Don’t ever speak my name in disrespect again. Mush potato head.” McGregor was clearly angered by the comments and lashed out in a brutal rant, which has become a common trait on his social media page during his inactivity.
But heavyweight contender Aspinall has now apologised for the comments suggesting he did not intend to disrespect McGregor's return. “Conor told me not to speak about him anymore so I’m going to respect that," he told Sky Sports when responding to the death threat. "He’s a scary guy. I don’t want anyone to do that. He made threats so I’m going to back off.
"I am not going talk about him no more if that’s the case. I didn’t disrespect him in any way. I would never disrespect him or anybody, you know what I mean. You’ve met me plenty times and I’m not that kind of character. I wouldn’t disrespect anyone, especially someone like him who’s a massive pioneer of the sport.
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"All I said was I’m more interested in other fights. There’s a heavyweight title fight coming up this weekend. In my division. Of course, I’m going to be more invested in that, but who knows? Like I say, his name is staying out of my mouth right now. I don’t want none of that.”
McGregor has picked fights with a whole host of high-profile names since his time away from the cage including Hasbulla, Tony Ferguson and even musician Harry Styles. However his focus is now set to return to business in the octagon, having flown out to Las vegas to begin the coaching stint of his comeback.
