Conor McGregor has been accused of having a "temper issue" after confronting UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall.
UFC superstar McGregor has been active on social media during his enforced absence after breaking his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier two years ago. He finally announced he will be returning to action later this year when he will take on rival Michael Chandler as part of the promotion's latest series of The Ultimate Fighter.
Heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall voiced criticism of the upcoming fight, insisting he was more intrigued by other UFC cards including their latest event in London. This prompted a fiery response from McGregor on social media who was clearly angered by the comments.
He tweeted: "Mush head rat keep your comments to yourself. Bum p****. Say sayonara to that [Gym King] deal kid. Starve you and kill you I will you f****** disrespectful p****. Don’t ever speak my name in disrespect again. Mush potato head.”
UFC legend Michael Bisping has since suggested that McGregor is suffering a fall from grace given his recent form inside the cage which has prompted his response. He said on his YouTube channel: “If you ask me, that’s pretty fair because McGregor has been around for a long time now and it’s a long time since he was the double-champ and all the rest of it, and he has fallen from grace.
“Listen, McGregor’s a hothead. We’re all kind of hotheads. McGregor’s a hothead, I’m a hothead. Lots of people in MMA and fighters and boxers are. “Conor is definitely biting off more than he can chew here. He’s got his hands full with Michael Chandler. Picking off a six-foot-five heavyweight, not the best thing to do. But we know what Conor’s like. He talks a bit of crap. He’ll tweet and delete – he’s done that many times – he’s just got a bit of a temper issue.”
McGregor has become known for picking fights with a number of UFC rivals online including Tony Ferguson and Islam Makhachev whom he has criticised in recent months. However his latest threat has left British star Aspinall reeling, with the currently injured star now admitting he was scared by the verbal attack.
“Conor told me not to speak about him anymore so I’m going to respect that," he told Sky Sports. "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. All I said was I’m more interested in other fights. I don’t want none of that.”
