Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor completed their weeklong, worldwide media tour Friday by trading verbal jabs at the SSE Arena in London.
McGregor continued his trend of delivering an expletive-filled rant directed toward Mayweather and everybody else associated with the Money Team, including the bodyguards. The UFC star even made direct contact with his opponent, rubbing his head during the WWE-style promo.
Meanwhile, Mayweather riled up the crowd by calling McGregor a “quitter” repeatedly and embraced the role of a heel by taking shots at his foe’s native Ireland. He also aggressively addressed UFC president Dana White, whom he referred to as a “pimp” for his role as The Notorious’ promoter.
UFC Europe showcased the first in-ring interaction between the budding rivals:
In a rare moment of seriousness, McGregor stood inside the ring on his 29th birthday and talked about his meteoric rise over the past few years. From a virtual unknown rising up the MMA ranks, he’s now set to enjoy a life-changing payday, regardless of the result next month.
MMAFighting.com passed along his comments on the subject to a favorable crowd:
It was a much more typical performance from McGregor following Thursday’s event in New York City, which generated unfavorable reviews.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com noted the return to form from the quick-talking Irishman:
Mayweather, who’s largely brushed off most of the insults thrown his way over the past few days, became much more aggressive for the final press conference.
Fox Sports UFC highlighted some of his attack:
Sports Illustrated provided more of Money’s antics:
He also joked that after winning the boxing match next month, he would take McGregor to the Octagon and take over MMA, too. The UFC lightweight champion called the bluff and said the rematch offer when he pulls off the upset would be on his terms—a mixed martial arts battle.
Unfortunately, Mayweather crossed the line by using a homophobic slur. Chamatkar Sandhu of USA Today tweeted about the offensive comments.
Brian Campbell of CBS Sports wrapped up the tour in a fitting way:
All told, McGregor‘s comments have dominated headlines over the past handful of days. The racial undercurrent in some of his comments was unnecessary and sparked controversy, but it’s undeniable that his ability to otherwise engage a crowd showed why he’s one of the top self-promoters in modern sports.
He’s going to have a much tougher time gaining the upper hand on Mayweather when they go to battle on Aug. 26, though. The undefeated five-division world boxing champion is one of the best defensive tacticians in history and should be able to control the pace of the bout.
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