Conor McGregor has reopened his surprisingly aggressive verbal battle with Hasbulla Magomedov on Twitter this afternoon by sending another deleted tweet to the Russian.
The Irishman took to social media late last night to share an edited photo showing himself on a boat holding up one of his children's toys with Hasbulla photoshopped onto its head. He captioned the picture with the message "now what you saying you little g***," before quickly deleting the post.
It's the latest shot at the Russian social media star, who is generally beloved in the MMA world. The teenager has had photo ops and meetings with the likes of Dana White, Alexander Volkanovski as well as McGregor's arch nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was the first to help him rise to prominence.
But McGregor doesn't see the funny side of Hasbulla's gimmick, which includes punching famous fighters and celebrities when he meets them. He first made his annoyance with the Russian on social media last month in a series of 'tweet-and-delete' messages where he threatened to kick the 3'4" influencer like a Gaelic football.
"I’d love to boot that little g**p Hasbulla over a goal post," McGregor tweeted. "How much to get him on the volley? I’m gonna make it my mission to score a three pointer with him one day, hon the GAA." Kicking a ball over the posts in Gaelic football is one point, while scoring a goal is worth three.
It's unclear what exactly drew McGregor's ire about Hasbulla, but at the time he had just been seen pranking Volkanovski, the current UFC featherweight champion, and basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. It's possible that those videos irked the Irishman and caused him to post an angry response to his followers.
Hasbulla hit back by demanding a UFC showdown with McGregor, insisting that he has a contract with the promotion and that he would like to meet him at the promotion's event in Abu Dhabi in October. "I don’t follow bums… I didn’t know someone was running their mouth, @ me next time," Hasbulla said.
Who are you backing in this feud; Conor McGregor or Hasbulla? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"I have my UFC contract now," he added. "If Conor McGregor is really a man… see me in Abu Dhabi. Got smashed by Khabib already. Guess his money from Mayweather ran out and he needs more attention".
And despite being smashed in the face with a burger as the pair were eating for a video shoot last month, Volkanovski has his pal's back. He took to Twitter to let McGregor know that he would have to face him first before getting to Hasbulla, saying: "You’ll have to go through me first, leave my mate alone."
McGregor is currently preparing for his return to the octagon, as well as jetting off to film his big screen debut in the remake of Road House with Jake Gyllenhal later this month. He suffered a broken leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July of last year, and is back training with a comeback fight believed to be taking place early next year.
