It’s part of the game for fighters to talk trash about their opponents in the lead up to a bout. Since the glory days of Muhammad Ali and his baiting of ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier, where Ali called the Olympic gold medalist and undisputed heavyweight champion of the world an ‘Uncle Tom’ and a ‘gorilla’, fighters have been laying on the insults thick and fast. In the modern era, nobody does it better than UFC champion Conor McGregor, whose constant barrage of insults hurled at opponent Jose Aldo left the usually mild-mannered former champ fuming.
In the lead up to the fight, McGregor took every opportunity to rile up Aldo in a series of blistering verbal – and sometimes physical – encounters in front of delighted press conference audiences, on the radio and on live TV. He even went so far as to learn Portuguese so he could insult him in his own language. Now that’s dedication to getting up someone’s nose.
In the following video, the fiery little Irishman pulls no punches in the lead up to their encounter, which took place earlier this month. At one stage he even goes so far as to follow Aldo in his car, shouting ‘pussy’ through the window. This guy is relentless. McGregor comes across as incredibly cocky and arrogant in the video, and it would have been quite funny if he’d been brought down when the two finally met in the ring. Of course, we all know how that turned out.
