Conor McGregor Fires Back At Floyd Mayweather Jr. About Racism Comment

Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are cut from the same cloth when it comes to being vocal and staying in the news.

So when Mayweather questioned McGregor’s popularity in a recent interview with Fight Hype, it was only a matter of time before the UFC champion fired back at the undefeated boxer.

Mayweather compared his own trash talk to McGregor’s and suggested the fighters’ outspoken tactics are viewed differently — Mayweather is criticized whereas McGregor is praised — because “racism still exists” in combat sports. The comment didn’t sit well with McGregor, who addressed Mayweather’s interesting stance in a rousing Instagram post over the weekend.

1. Rolling Stone, thank you for putting me as one of your top 25 sex symbols of 2015! My Mother will be delighted and proud! 2. ESPN, FOX, BT Sports, MMA Fighting, Yahoo, MMA Junkie and Sherdog thank you all for awarding me fighter of the year 2015! I appreciate all the hardworking media and their love and commitment to the sport is truly valued. 3. Fighters Only MMA Awards, thank you for the nominations for Fighter of the Year, KO of the Year, International Fighter of the year. I will be in Las Vegas to attend the event and collect all my awards. 4. Floyd Mayweather, don't ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood. In my family's long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name 'McGregor' was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. If you want we can organise a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favour seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue. At 27 years of age I now hold the key to this game. The game answers to me now. 5. Media instigators/An Garda Siochana. I apologise for having the air-soft in public. I was simply rehearsing for a potential upcoming film role. I understand that the more traffic a story can get the more revenue it generates. So I understand and respect that the media must create these stories and these situations even if at times it is at other people's expense. We've all got to eat. And I eat well. So I will not complain. 6. My next fight. What can I say, it's just another night of easy work for me. I don't just own the game. I run it too.

A photo posted by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jan 8, 2016 at 3:42pm PST

“Floyd Mayweather, don’t ever bring race into my success again,” McGregor wrote. “I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood.”

McGregor even offered to fight Mayweather — with a catch. The UFC champion offered an 80/20 purse split in his own favor because Mayweather’s last fight against Andre Berto — perhaps the final bout of Mayweather’s boxing career — bombed from a revenue perspective.

Of course, one shouldn’t expect to see the 27-year-old McGregor and the 38-year-old Mayweather trade blows anytime soon, even though such an MMA-boxing crossover almost certainly would break pay-per-view records. However, one should expect a verbal rebuttal from Mayweather.

After all, these guys talk the talk as well as they walk the walk.

Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images