Kamaru Usman Urges Conor McGregor to ‘Put the Whisky Bottle Down’ in Response to Expletive-Laden Rant

The ill will between Conor McGregor and former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman came to a head earlier this week with a series of verbal jabs dealt out over the Internet. In a livestream for crypto casino Duelbits, McGregor offhandedly insulted Usman's "little bald Malteser head" before bluntly declaring, "f--k him." The timing of McGregor's bold insults lines up with his much-anticipated return to the cage. On June 29, McGregor is set to end his nearly three-year retirement with a grudge match against Michael Chandler in Las Vegas. Time and time again, McGregor has stirred up controversy that gives way to free promotion ahead of high-profile fights. Nonetheless, Usman didn't take too kindly to his choice of words. Taking to his Pound-4-Pound podcast on YouTube, Usman blasted McGregor in a longwinded breakdown.

“I didn’t kick him while he was down. He’s had run-ins with the law. He’s had back-to-back incidents and situations, but you never heard me sit there and kick the man while he was down. There needs to be some level of respect here because at the end of the day, that’s what this sport is all about. The respect and the discipline we all put in to get to the top of the sport," Kamaru said.

Taking a dig at Conor's business ventures, Kamaru continued:

"To call me a bum is kind of disrespectful. I didn’t disrespect you when you were having your troubles. So, my man, I think it’s sometimes easier, and it’s better – well, it’s not easier … it’s better if you put that whiskey bottle down and actually come back to your wits and be a good father and a good role model.”

Proper No. Twelve, the questionably received but undoubtedly successful Irish whiskey launched by McGregor in 2018, has found itself at the center of a laundry list of disputes between "The Notorious" boxer and fellow fighters. More often than not, the whiskey is used as a punching bag to lob insults at McGregor himself. Middleweight boxing champion Carl Froch once remarked that the liquor tastes "like proper s--t," while Jean-Claude Van Damme chimed in that Proper No. Twelve "was heavy on my throat" (incidentally, he was promoting his own Irish whiskey brand at the time). McGregor has also been embattled in a years-long legal dispute with former teammate Artem Lobov, who claims he came up with the idea for the spirits venture. Lobov alleges that McGregor initially intended to launch an Icelandic vodka brand, but after some research and convincing, was swayed by Lobov to go with the Irish whiskey instead. Though McGregor remains as the figurehead for the brand, he and two other shareholders sold their stake in the whiskey to conglomerate Proximo Spirits in 2021. The Irish fighter was later ordered to disclose how much he received from the deal amid legal proceedings with Lobov; third-party estimates peg the number between $100 million and $130 million. [botmc-promo]