McGregor Uses Homophobic Slur

UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor appeared at the UFC’s event in Gdansk, Poland, on Saturday, supporting teammate Artem Lobov, who was competing on the prelim portion of the card.

It ended up being not a great day for McGregor and his team, with possibly the biggest low-light coming after the bout, as the UFC champion was caught on camera using a homophobic slur during a backstage conversation with Lobov.

After Lobov’s loss to Andre Fili, McGregor was talking to Lobov, and while doing so appeared to utter a homophobic slur, presumably referring to Fili.

Two videos of the incident have been released. According to Bloody Elbow, the first clip was originally uploaded by the BT Sport UFC Twitter account before it was removed, while a second, different clip was uploaded by the official UFC Twitter page before it was also taken down.

Oh Nooooo!!! Conor’s a Bad Boy??? #UFCGadnsk #Notorious pic.twitter.com/VBUqPzNkLi

— ✌Curtis✌ (@fuufnf) October 21, 2017

Neither McGregor nor the UFC have commented on the situation.

This is not the first time this year a UFC fighter has been caught uttering a homophobic slur. In the events leading up to this month’s UFC 216 event, Fabricio Werdum krogerfeedback audibly used this same slur when referring to current interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson. And in the build-up towards McGregor’s clash with Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather received criticism for uttering this same slur at McGregor during a pre-fight press conference; meanwhile, McGregor was criticized for racist comments to Mayweather.

Werdum apologized via social media for the incident, and the UFC stated he would perform LGBTQ community outreach to make up for it. It is unknown if McGregor would face a similar punishment.

Some have taken to social media to criticize McGregor for this event.

Called Siver a Nazi ✅
Arguably racist towards Mayweather ✅
Homophobic slur at Fili ✅
Conor McGregor shouldn’t be anyone’s inspiration #trash https://t.co/PMLZ3yWsod

— Elis Sandford (@Elis_Sandford) October 21, 2017

Others, including MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle, said while it’s upsetting McGregor used the word, it shouldn’t be an excuse to start a riot or protest.

Conor McGregor used his star power to help get gay marriage legalized in Ireland. Disappointed he used slur, but let’s put pitchforks away.

— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) October 21, 2017

McGregor got into trouble before the homophobic slur incident during the day, too. During the Lobov-Fili bout, McGregor was pacing around shouting directions to Lobov from all over the outside of the cage. Fili’s corner complained, and in-between rounds, referee Marc Goddard ordered McGregor to calm down and go back to his seat.

Coach @TheNotoriousMMA. 😏 #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/MbEiD7HpCi

— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2017

“My bad, my bad” 😂#UFCGdansk @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/IRjOMKPNtC

— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2017