Conor McGregor has been mocked by fellow ex-champion Henry Cejudo for not understanding the differences between boxing and mixed martial arts.
Fellow two-weight world champion Cejudo, who retired from the sport in 2020, has been having an ongoing back-and-forth with McGregor over the past few weeks. And he has again taken to Twitter to attempt to school the Irishman as he prepares for his octagon return later this year.
The Irishman has been recovering from the broken leg he suffered last summer, and is expected to be back in the cage once he has medical clearance. In the meantime, he has been training his hands at the Crumling Boxing Club, where he posts occasional footage, as well as during his world travels.
But Cejudo, who is plotting a return of his own, says that the Irishman must re-learn certain things ahead of his comeback. "MMA is different than boxing; if you over turn your hips it leads to easy takedowns," the Olympic gold medal winner said in a tweet. "It’s hard to recover your position if you over throw your hips.
"You essentially add more time to whatever punch you throw next. You really need to understand setup punches. - Sincerely the GOAT [Greatest of All Time]"
McGregor hit back at Cejudo, saying: "God bless you. Hold on tight. I just want to crush the head not hold. I'll be there on bottom fighting 'evil' if I 'overthrow' my hips, over throw; nice word. Come back and hit a throw. Whatever after that, launch someone. Make the splash kiddo. You a fat mess the last 24. Truth."
It's not the first time that McGregor and Cejudo have rowed over social media, with the former two-weight champions going back-and-forth in one of the Irishman's tweet-and-deletes. After McGregor shared training footage hitting pads, Cejudo critiqued the clip, which was met with a heated reply that was since taken down.
Would you like to see Conor McGregor take Henry Cejudo's advice for his octagon return? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"Everything is done naked," he said in his initial response. "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."
McGregor hit back by saying: "The opening punches are the traps/feints/fakes. 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 two KOs. At bantam. I’ve 20. Across three divisions. Quiet, you bum!”
Cejudo was first the flyweight champion in the UFC after dethroning Demetrius Johnson and stopping TJ Dillashaw's efforts to rid the promotion of its 125lb division, before moving up to bantamweight to become two-weight world champion. After transitioning from amateur wrestling to MMA, he landed eight KOs in his 18 fights, five of which came in the UFC. Two of those came at bantamweight and three at flyweight.
