Conor McGregor once took a verbal swing at Tyson Fury, accusing him of “bottling it” for not intervening during a fracas involving a fellow fighter’s relative back in 2021.
As Tommy, the half-brother of the Gypsy King, won his first fight in a year and a half on Friday, fans might be intrigued about the past spat between Tyson and UFC icon McGregor. The Crumlin-born star threw the opening salvo in 2022 by criticising Fury for his inaction when Billy Joe Saunders’ father was aggressively handled by security during a previous bout.
The incident in question occurred in May 2021 after Saunders lost to Canelo Alvarez in their middleweight world title fight, leading to an altercation where the British boxer’s dad tried to get past a barrier to reach his son and was forcefully pushed away by a security guard.
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Fury, however, chose to stay well back and instead watched the incident unfold from behind the railing – a decision that didn’t sit well with McGregor. In a tweet posted a year later, the 36-year-old said: “Yup the Joyces. Big Joe!
“U bottled it with Billy joe Da, what were you doing there ? ULeft him, Versace t*** U.Done. Nothing. Ya’s did it right ye right hahahahaaj. Even when I’m wrong i’m right. Who did it right ? The Mac daddy tonight, in house. Miami d12! Bahamas.”
Fury quickly hit back at the claims, saying: “Come back when u win a fight mush. And the difference in me and you is i don’t get myself in trouble and people actually like me, your just a bully who hit old man.”
The situation then seemed to intensify as McGregor lashed out with several derogatory comments towards Fury, including: “You are just a little r** licker bro. That’s all. You stood there while your friends father was being attacked and done nothing. That’s the be all end all bro. God luck, God bless.”
However, later on in 2022, Fury disclosed that the entire altercation was nothing more than a promotional ploy designed to generate buzz for both himself and McGregor, reports Dublin Live.
Speaking on the Queensberry Promotions’ YouTube channel, the now-retired boxer said: “Yeah, that was Super Bowl weekend, a good time to get some publicity. Great timing, actually. We were trending all over Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Pretty good, pretty good work.”
Quizzed about his true feelings towards McGregor, Fury said: “I think he’s alright. He’s a good fighter, isn’t he? Or, well, he has been a good fighter in the past. It is what it is. Can’t complain, can you?
“I think McGregor’s about this big (motions with his hand) and I’m about this big (again motions with his hand), so how could there be any animosity?
“And we’re in totally different sports, so yeah, it’s good. We created the headlines which is what we wanted anyway.”
Since their spat, there’s been no reported interaction between the two, friendly or otherwise, and it seems the feud has been put to bed. Meanwhile, Fury’s half-brother, Tommy, made a successful return to the ring with a points win over Kenan Hanjalic in Budapest on Friday evening.
