Faber: Beef With McGregor Was Blown Out Of Proportion
Although The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22 coaches, Conor McGregor, and Urijah Faber won’t fight at the end of the show, it still seems as if there may be some friction, and built up animosity between the two stars.
However, speaking with MMAJunkie recently, “The California Kid” said that situations only become tense because both men aren’t opposed to speaking their minds, noting that the “Notorious” one isn’t really a bad guy:
“I speak my mind, I love to fight, he speaks his mind, he loves to fight, and we don’t take crap,” Faber (32-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC), who next faces Frankie Saenz (11-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at UFC 194, said during a recent media day. “So that’s where things get heated up. But as a person, he’s a decent dude when he’s being real.”
The rivalry seemed to be a bit more than just two outspoken fighters when the two engaged in a physical confrontation before the UFC 189 weigh-ins, however. Faber claims that things like this tend to get blown out of proportion, claiming that if the beef was real, punches would’ve been thrown:
“Things get blown out of proportion,” he said. “If we really had a real beef, there would have been punches thrown by him – not just me slamming him against the wall. It was kind of just what it was. It was weird.”
The war of words definitely seems to be apparent between the two coaches and that’s coming from both parties. However, it must also be noted that McGregor is one of the most brash, and outspoken fighters in the history of the sport.
Never afraid to say what’s on his mind, the Irish interim featherweight champion seems to have rubbed numerous fighters the wrong way whether they be in his division or not, so it’s not surprising to see he and Faber get into it a tad bit even if it might be blown out of proportion as Faber has said.
Do you ever see these two meeting in the Octagon?