Conor McGregor has been told by Islam Makhachev's coach to "keep it clean" in order to earn respect from other fighters on the UFC roster.
McGregor is out of action having broken his leg during a defeat by Dustin Poirier last July, but he has maintained his activity on social media. Although the Irishman has been updating fans of his progress online, he has also been picking feuds with a number of leading stars online including Carl Froch, Khabib Nurmagomedov and most recently Makhachev.
The Russian star followed in the footsteps of his mentor Nurmagomedov and became UFC lightweight champion with submission victory over Charles Oliveira at the weekend. McGregor took to social media to claim he had the tools to become the latest man to beat Makhachev in an X-rated message. He tweeted: "Nice fight, nice performance. I have built all the tools to beat this style now vs before. Experience vs s***.
"Face breaking shots from clinch and baby brain batter shots from bottom. And the rest of my repertoire you know. Steel left leg. Cannon back hand. Wrist control. The thought of shutting down this system of fighting with my own developed system is quite intriguing to me. It's not personal. It's a skill evaluation and a fight."
Makhachev's coach has now issued a response during an interview with Submission Radio where he suggested McGregor would have little chance of following up on his claim. He said: "I wish he could just be a fighter, so people, that everybody can respect and at least love, you know. I just wish he would just keep it clean.
"The guy's a great fighter, he doesn't need to do that. Then he would have my respect. He has the tools to beat anybody, but will he? He's been mentally incomplete there, he's never been there. When's the last time that he had a complete fight where he fought properly? You know, he's a huge name, so whoever gets to fight him makes a huge payday.
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"And obviously everybody would be jumping at the bit to get a hold of him. Because he's proven to be beatable. He's not proven to be indestructable. And he himself, he can hype up anything so let him hype it up. I don't care much for him anyway."
McGregor has won just one of his last four UFC fights which include a 2018 defeat to Mendez's retired fighter Nurmagomedov, and the Irish star is eyeing a return to the cage next year. However any fight with the Russian seems highly unlikely with Makhachev denying him a chance at the title, while McGregor is expected to return at 170lb.
