UFC legend Conor McGregor dismissed a fan who claimed that he hadn't knocked out anyone in five years during a brief, now-deleted, Twitter exchange.
The former two-weight world champion declared himself the "King of KOs" while discussing the new Power Slap League in a series of messages, despite having won just once since 2016. He did have a stunning run of knockout wins on his way to the featherweight and lightweight world titles, but after winning the second one, has managed just one KO in his four fights.
McGregor stopped world champions such as Jose Aldo, Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez during his lightning-fast rise to two titles during his heyday, as well as knocking out Denis Siver, Diego Brandao and Marcus Brimmage. But after moving into boxing to face Floyd Mayweather the year after his win over Alvarez, he has struggled to find the same form back in the octagon.
When he declared himself the "King of KOs" in a now-deleted tweet, one fan joked that he "hasn't knocked anyone out in five years", to which McGregor replied "Yeah right hahahaha." The Irishman was right to correct the fan in that instance, as he did manage one vicious stoppage in his 2020 comeback fight against Donald Cerrone, knocking him out in 40 seconds.
However, either side of that victory were stoppage defeats at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 and Dustin Poirier in 2021. The latter of those actually saw McGregor knocked out for the first time in his career when Poirier put him away in the second round of their clash in Abu Dhabi at UFC 257.
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Jake Paul noted that very point in a tweet which he also took down immediately after seeing the Irishman's message, telling him "Yes, Dustin knocked you the f*** out and put you to sleep," in a post that included a picture of McGregor just after he had been knocked unconscious by Poirier.
McGregor's loss to Poirier saw them set up for a trilogy in July 2021, which only lasted a round before the former champion broke his leg on a kick causing the bout to be stopped and Poirier to be declared the winner. The Irishman hasn't fought since, but is planning a comeback this year after recovering from the gruesome break.
