Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe threw some shade at some of the UFC’s biggest names, including Irish megastar Conor McGregor.
Recently, Sharpe welcomed former UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou onto the latest episode of Club Shay Shay. During their two-hour conversation, the pair covered multiple topics, but one of the more interesting moments came from Sharpe himself when he suggested that fighters like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor, two of the biggest and most successful names in MMA history, are nothing more than one-dimensional fighters.
“The one thing about MMA, you can’t be one-dimensional,” Sharpe said (with a certain degree of authority). “Ronda Rousey was one-dimensional. Conor McGregor is one-dimensional. He just throws punches.”
Renowned #MMA expert Shannon Sharpe taking Francis Ngannou to school
pic.twitter.com/knxXORfsPF
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) December 6, 2023
Francis Ngannou Disputes Sharpe’s Assessment of Conor McGregor
‘The Predator’ was quick to come to McGregor’s defense, adding that most world champions are not great at any one skill, but make up for it by being proficient in multiple skills.
“He has a good ground game, too,” Ngannou countered. “There is always somebody who has a better ground game than somebody, and when they say you have a decent ground game, it’s not the best in the game. It’s a sport with multiple disciplines. Most of the time, the champion is not great at one thing … you just need to be good at a lot” (h/t MMA Mania).
We’re gonna go out on a limb and say Shannon Sharpe is not familiar with the work of Alex Pereira.
It’s only a matter of time before Conor McGregor tweets and deletes something derogatory aimed at the former NFL star, but this is one of the rare cases where it might actually be justified.