Conor McGregor and Cole Miller were supposed to throw down at UFC Dublin, back in 2014.
The trash-talking had ramped up ahead of Fight Night 46 but a hand injury ruled Miller out of the O2 [now 3] Arena showdown.
McGregor went on to defeat Diego Brandao and, within a year, was UFC interim featherweight champion. Miller has since lost to Max Holloway, who McGregor also defeated, and had his December 2015 bout against Jim Alers declared a No Contest after he was poked in the eye and was unable to continue.
Different paths so.
Last night, it was announced that Miller was lined up to face BJ Penn at UFC 199 after Dennis Siver withdrew from the bout through injury. The news will come as a disappointment for McGregor’s SBG teammate Artem Lobov.
Irish featherweight makes BJ Penn a hell of an offer https://t.co/RuUIdjwTXb
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 11, 2016
Penn is a former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion but last featured in the promotion as a featherweight. It is thought he will remain in that division to take on Miller at the June event.
McGregor certainly has no time for Miller, judging by their pre-fight comments back on a May 2014 edition of The MMA Hour. ‘The Notorious’ declared:
“As soon as that man steps off the plane [in Dublin], he is stepping onto a battlefield. He knows it, I know it.
“The stuff he said about me… I didn’t even give a shit about him. Nobody in the UFC gives a shit about him. 18 fights in the UFC, or 17 – I don’t even know – and the motherf**ker couldn’t even get off Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg rang and tried to get that man off Facebook.
“Nobody cares about him. I’m going to go in… He opened his mouth. When that door shuts and that bell rings, he is in danger.”
McGregor then invoked what he referred to as a famous Celtic phrase. He declared:
“Many a time a man’s mouth broke his nose.
“That man opened is mouth and I’m going to break his nose.”
Miller will finally be getting his big fight but, one suspects, McGregor will not pay it much heed. If anything, he will be focused on Penn and his comeback.
