OK, pay attention.
This is simple, so simple that it’s almost not worth wasting the time writing these words.
The morning after Wednesday night’s press conference, a number of reporters have claimed that Conor McGregor may have used a highly derogatory term for a person of Spanish descent to describe UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.
I’m here to say that he didn’t!
Let’s look at the transcript of his back-and-forth with dos Anjos.
RDA: It’s a different story. Lightweight is a different story. We’re bigger at lighweight… (McGregor interrupts)
McGregor: He’s 5 ft 8 with a 70 inch reach. I’m 5 ft 9 with a 74 inch reach. I’m the bigger man here. I’m the bigger man. I’m going to bully this man in his own division.
RDA: Are you done, eh?
McGregor: No, I’m not.
RDA: Are you done, OK?
McGregor: You stay quiet while I speak. I’m the king. You’re a (RDA interrupts)
RDA: Yeah, go. Speak!
McGregor: You’re a bum.
RDA: You’re nothing, man.
That’s quite clearly the way that the exchange went down.
Surely the logical way to hear the back-and-forth is to believe that dos Anjos was responding to McGregor’s use of the word “speak” and repeating it in a Brazilian accent, his first language is Portuguese after all.
It’s quite a significant, and dangerous, leap to come to the conclusion that McGregor had all of a sudden, out of nowhere, decided to play the race card.
But surely, when you look at the context and the words that preceded the one that has become a massive talking point, it makes much more sense to believe that it was dos Anjos who uttered “speak.”
I’m not here to unconditionally defend Conor McGregor and he has said some things, specifically in the run up to the Dennis Siver fight last January, that are indeed offensive and over the top.
But he didn’t do it this time.
What is perhaps more interesting is the level of scrutiny that McGregor’s words are now under as he has transcended the sport and become a mainstream sporting icon.
We can only imagine what the reaction would be now, given McGregor’s fame and notoriety, were he to call his opponent a “Nazi”, as he did to Siver before their fight last January.
It’s not only the level of scrutiny but who is scrutinising him that has to be examined.
Just last year, he wasn’t the superstar that he is now and his Siver comments were written off by the MMA community as a fight-hyping technique.
He apologised for crossing the line and it was largely forgotten about.
But now mainstream journalists and media outlets, who never have and probably never will pay any attention to a ‘Rampage’ Jackson or Michael Bisping (infamous trash-talkers) press conference, are latching on to words and judging McGregor by the standards of all high-profile sportspeople rather than a man who lives to sell pay-per-views.
They’re judging him by the same standard that they’d judge an Andy Murray, a Tom Brady or a Wayne Rooney and that’s just not right.
This is a combat sport and fighters will do anything to get under one another’s skin.
But, having said that, McGregor still didn’t use that term.
Watch for yourself and make up your own mind but there must be a lot more evidence to accuse someone of using this term!
The camera being focused on McGregor didn’t help. The fact that he was opening his mouth to lob another insult at dos Anjos didn’t help.
But dos Anjos said “speak”. End of story.
