Conor McGregor Issues Apology For Using Homophobic Slur

Conor McGregor recently made headlines when he was heard using a homophobic slur in a conversation with teammate Artem Lobov after Lobov’s loss to Andre Fili in Gdansk, Poland on Oct. 21, 2017.

“I thought you were going to sleep him,” McGregor said. “All I’m saying, he’s a (expletive). I never knew he was a (expletive).”

Now, however, the brash and outspoken UFC lightweight champion has issued an apology following his remarks:

“I witnessed him [Lobov] lose a fight in a potential career-defining or a career-ending fight in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away, and I was upset,” McGregor said on an edition of “The Late Late Show”. “I was whispering in his ear, and I was speaking on that, and I said what I said. I meant no disrespect to nobody, to anybody in the LGBT community.”

“I was watching a fighter, a sparring partner, a friend, a brother of mine who was giving his health – his body health, his brain health, everything – to help me prepare for fights to give my brain health and my body health to entertain the public,” McGregor said. “That’s the fighter I was going to watch and support.”

McGregor also voiced his support for the LGBT community, pointing to his efforts to legalize gay marriage in his home country of Ireland:

“I was campaigning for that,” McGregor said. “It’s another one where things just get blown out. Any chance they get, they love to throw me under the bus. I just have to say sorry for what I said and try and move on from it.”

As far as his career goes, McGregor hasn’t competed since suffering a loss to Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match this past August. It’s expected that he’ll next return to the Octagon to defend his 155-pound title, perhaps against interim champion Tony Ferguson or possibly even Nate Diaz.