McGregor takes sly dig at Makhachev and Volkanovski after title fight

Conor McGregor has branded pound-for-pound No 1 and No 2 Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski “wafflers” after their barn burner at UFC 284. Makhachev retained his UFC lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Volkanovski in a back-and-forth affair.

The crowd were on their feet when the final klaxon went off with many hailing the contest as an ‘instant classic’ and the ‘fight of the year so far’.

There was no denying the importance of the headliner, which was set to decide who the rightful pound-for-pound king of the sport was. But McGregor didn’t seem particularly interested in the lead-up to the UFC 284 main event, tweeting: “pound for pound wafflers” as the promo videos aired.

The Irishman didn’t even react to the result and was strangely quiet on social media all night. This was especially surprising given his turbulent relationship with Makhachev, who is a protégé of fierce rival Khabib Nurmagomedov.

After Makhachev picked up the 155lb strap against Charles Oliveira last year, McGregor claimed he had ‘all the tools’ to beat the Russian. “Nice fight. nice performance. I have built all the tools to beat this style now Vs b4,” tweeted McGregor. “Experience Vs . Face breaking shots from clinch and baby brain batter shots from bottom. And the rest of my repertoire yous know. Steel left leg. Cannon back hand. Wrist control.

“The thought of shutting down this system of fighting with my own developed system is quite intriguing to me. Whoever of them against. It’s not personal. It’s a skill evaluation and a fight. Even thru generations. The imaafs, amateurs. A war of attrition. To the box.” Yet he made no such call out following his most recent victory.

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McGregor last fought in July 2021 in a losing effort against fierce rival Dustin Poirier. The 34-year-old broke his leg at the end of the first round and so was unable to continue with the bout. He has since undergone successful rehabilitation work and is back in full contact training with a view to making his highly anticipated comeback this year against Michael Chandler.

The pair will square off as coaches in the next season of the Ultimate Fighter before laying hands on each other for real in a welterweight bout expected towards the back end of 2023. However, McGregor will have to return six months’ worth of clean tests to the UFC’s anti-doping partners USADA before he is cleared to fight.

The former two-weight world champion has been out of the testing pool since the third quarter of 2021 and was hoping to exercise a loophole which would have cleared him to fight after just two clean tests. But USADA has since amended their ruling.