Ali Abdelaziz claims that former dual-weight UFC Conor McGregor is actively avoiding fighting one of his star clients.
The powerful MMA manager has famously overseen the careers of many UFC champions, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo and Islam Makhachev.
Abdelaziz verbally clashed with McGregor in the build-up to his fourth-round submission defeat against Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.
Ever since the two men have sporadically taken shots at each other on social media – but now Abdelaziz has upped the ante by publicly accusing ‘Notorious’ of ducking Justin Gaethje.
Conor McGregor accused of ducking Justin Gaethje fight
According to the Dominance MMA CEO, McGregor has refused to fight the former BMF titleholder ‘at least five times’ and given a lame excuse for his lack of interest in the matchup.
“He got offered this fight at least five times,” Abdelaziz claimed during an interview with Submission Radio.
“At least five. At least five. He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin was because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before.
“And the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess.
“Through the last five, six years he got offered Justin Gaethje so many times.
“Never once, never once. This man, even the UFC, told me this. ‘Hey, leave him alone. Don’t talk with him. He doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the internet.’
“Why do you think Chandler being so nice to him? Why? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor. Conor has to start talking bad and he talk bad back.
“You know, he’s a weak mental midget. He’s soft like a marshmallow. And he’s no good. Son of a b***. This is what he is.”
Ali Abdelaziz reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor
Nurmagomedov and McGregor shared one of the most bitter feuds before finally settling their differences in the Octagon.
Their beef carried on post-fight as a mass brawl broke out at UFC 229 and eventually led to both men receiving substantial fines and bans from the sport.
Nurmagomedov retired in 2020, but McGregor continues to take shots at him on social media every chance he gets. Now Abdelaziz has looked back on what was the UFC’s most intense rivalry.
“It’s been six years since Conor last saw Khabib,” he said.
“Khabib took everything away from him. He took his manhood. He took his soul. He was never the same. He was never the same. He will never be the same. He took everything away from this man.
“The UFC lost so much money because of Khabib. But this is the game. You know you have to fight the best and Khabib was the best at the same time. And Conor fought the best and he got whooped.”