Joe Duffy Accuses Conor McGregor Of Trying To Turn Irish Fans Against Him During UFC Tenure
Retired lightweight veteran, Joe Duffy has accused former opponent and one-time undisputed featherweight and lightweight UFC champion, Conor McGregor of attempting to alienate Irish fans against him during their respective Octagon tenures.
Joe Duffy handed Conor McGregor a 2010 submission defeat
Duffy, a past opponent of the Dubliner, handed Conor McGregor his second professional mixed martial arts in the form of a 38-second arm-triangle submission defeat at Cage Warriors 39 in 2010 in Cork.
Conor McGregor would go on to begin a stunning 15-fight winning spree post-loss to Duffy back in 2010, leading himself to the eventual interim and undisputed UFC featherweight title after achieving duel-weight titleholder status in the Cage Warriors promotion as well.
Calling time on his professional career back in July 2020, Donegal-born favorite, Duffy suffered his third consecutive defeat in the form of a ‘Fight Island’ guillotine loss against Spanish grappler, Joel Alvarez.
Sharing his thoughts on his often scrutinized relationship with McGregor following a brief run in at a 2015 UFC ‘Go Big’ press conference, Duffy claimed that the Crumlin native attempted to turn the Irish contingent of fans against him.
“Conor (McGregor) tried to kind of turn the fans against me then because he probably didn’t like the attention that I (had), and obviously the tie between us, was getting at the time,” Joe Duffy told The Auld Triangle Irish MMA Podcast with hosts, Andy Stevenson, Caoilte de Barra, and Ian O’Neill during a recent appearance.
“So that was something frustrating too because obviously, that’s something I’ve obviously been proud of,” Joe Duffy explained. “Even through I grew up in Wales, I was obviously a proud Irishman.”
“That was annoying because that’s one of the reasons you’re fighting because you’re proud of your country and you want to represent it.” (Transcribed by TalkSport)
Expected to make his long-awaited UFC return at the end of the year, if not at the beginning of 2023 as per Dana White, McGregor has been sidelined since suffering a fractured tibia in his UFC 264 trilogy rubber match with common-foe, Dustin Poirier in July of last year.
