UFC investigating claims Kamaru Usman’s Twitter account was hacked

Patrick McCarry

Conor McGregor has since commented on the tweets, and Usman’s manager.

These Usman tweets were reprehensible but the fighter’s management insists his Twitter account was hacked.

A few hours out from Conor McGregor’s first UFC fight in 15 months, a series of tweets started cropping up on the account of welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. It started off with a prediction that McGregor would be defeated by Cerrone and deteriorated after that.

There were some distasteful references to McGregor’s partner, Dee Devlin, and there was a post that appeared to include the Dubliner’s bank details and pin code.

Ali Abdelaziz was quick to tweet out that his fighter’s account had been hacked.

Guys Kamaru Usman’s @USMAN84kg Twitter has been hacked UFC is working on getting it back.

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) January 19, 2020

Following UFC 246, which wrapped up by McGregor’s 40-second TKO win over Cerrone, the promotion’s president Dana White commented on the matter. He also revealed he had called McGregor to update him on the claims the account had been hacked.

“I phoned Conor and said don’t do anything, don’t react. Usman and Ali were sitting right in front of where Conor came out.

“The first thing I did was to tell Conor; he didn’t believe he was hacked. They put his bank account and his pin out there, that’s crazy s***.”

White said the UFC would look into the matter further but McGregor, when he took his seat for the post-fight briefing, was not convinced of any hacking claims.

“I’d be sceptical of that, because one came through early and it had all the hallmarks of that little f***ing weasel Ali. They [the fighters] give him control of their accounts. He had Frankie Edgar’s account, he had Henry Cejudo’s account. This has bee going on a while. He gets control and then writes something through their account.

“And listen, I’ve been in discussions with some of these athletes to come on board [with my management company]; help them out and that; and I know exactly what happened. And the way the first one was written, I knew exactly where it came from.

“And all of a sudden, a little bit heavier ones and then it became a hack job. So, whatever. I don’t what the f***. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s a bit of a mad night.”

McGregor says White did call about the tweets, and the hacking claims, but was only able to pass a message to a member of his team. In the end, McGregor walked by Usman and his manager on his way to The Octagon and there was no flashpoint.