Brazilian fighters laid into Conor McGregor recently.
Ahead of last weekend’s UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro a panel of Brazilian stars conducted a Q&A for fans. The panel included UFC middleweight champ Alex Pereira and former champions Charles Oliveira, Jose Aldo and Rafael dos Anjos. It didn’t take long for the Brazilian fan favourites to be asked about a man who made himself plenty of enemies in that part of the world — Conor McGregor.
When asked which of the panel members had the best shot to beat McGregor, Aldo — who famously lost his UFC featherweight title to the Irishman — joked that the biggest man on the a stage was the most likely to get the job done.
“I pick ‘Poatan’,” he said (ht MMA Fighting). “Poatan can knock him out. Isn’t [McGregor] a heavyweight now, going to 185 pounds? We have Rafael at 170, we have Charles at 155. Our team is ready. Everybody wants this opportunity.”
Oliveira quickly weighed in on the debate.
“There are no fools here, everybody knows we want this fight because he’ll give us a lot of money, but I do think he’s a guy that needs to be hyped,” said ‘Do Bronx’. “I’ve asked for this fight plenty of times and he never says anything. I’ll be ready to fight him the day he wants, but I won’t call him out anymore.”
Oliveira was very vocal during the years he held the UFC lightweight title about his desire for a money fight with McGregor, wanting him to skip the line in the rankings to ensure such a thing happened. However, that bout never came to fruition, with Oliveira beating Justin Gaethje and then losing to Islam Makhachev instead.
Dos Anjos was booked to fight McGregor back in 2016. However, an injury forced RDA out of the bout. That lead to Nate Diaz being flown in as a late replacement (and we all know what happened next).
“Conor picks his fights,” dos Anjos claimed. “Like Charles said, everybody wants this fight because it will be lucrative. He picks his fights. When he feels that’s the fight for him, he’ll choose it. We’ll be waiting but we’ll continue fighting in the meantime.”
“McGregor chickened out a long time ago,” Oliveira continued. “Like Rafael said, he handpicks his fights. I think he looks at the guy and thinks ‘I can beat this one,’ and then he signs the contract. He’s right not to fight me because he knows what will happen.”
McGregor hasn’t fought since back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier in 2021. The second loss saw him break his leg, requiring a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Since those fights McGregor has been embroiled in a number of controversies including scuffles with celebrities, civil suits that claim sexual assault and an alleged White Lotus re-enactment on his yacht in Ibiza.
Who is Conor McGregor fighting next?
Conor McGregor does not have a new fight currently booked. He has been in rumoured match-ups with Michael Chandler (who desperately wants that fight) and Tony Ferguson (after it was claimed both were offered coaching roles on TUF).
About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)