‘I was simply acting’: Conor McGregor plays down spat with UFC legend Michael Bisping

Conor McGregor has played down his Twitter spat with Michael Bisping, claiming that he was ‘simply acting’ in an aggressive voice note aimed at the UFC legend.

The two former UFC champions went back and forth on Twitter this week and last, and McGregor took exception to Bisping’s claim that the Irishman would need security to protect him if the pair were ever in the same room again.

“Do you want to go to war, man, yeah?” McGregor said in a Twitter voice note addressed to the Briton last week. “Do you want to go to f***ing war? We’ll go to war with you, yeah?

“Security. You little sausage of a thing. I’ll have security set you up [...] when you’re in Vegas again, pal.

“Keep my name out of your f***ing mouth again or any type of threatening behaviour, or I’ll walk through your front door. You little dope. [Go] back where you belong, you little clown, you little sprinter.”

The retired Bisping, 43, then tried to defuse the situation, saying on his Believe You Me podcast: “It’s a f*****g joke, obviously, there was no threats on my end whatsoever. But he kind of flipped a lid, didn’t he? He lost his mind.

“Anyway, Conor, relax, buddy. Jesus Christ. There you go.”

McGregor, 34, echoed the ex-middleweight champion’s sentiment, saying in another Twitter voice note on Wednesday (5 October): “Hey, Mike, it’s Conor here. I saw you didn’t understand that I was simply acting.

“I thought you would’ve known. Brother, all love, my man. God bless the show, God bless the fam, and God bless my man. Oh, yeah!”

McGregor, who will make his acting debut in an upcoming remake of the action film Road House, put on an American accent in that most recent voice note, which the former lightweight and featherweight champion has since deleted.

McGregor has not fought since July 2021, when he lost to old rival Dustin Poirier for the second time in six months. McGregor suffered a broken leg at the end of the first round, as American Poirier was ruled the winner via TKO.

The Irishman is not expected back in the Octagon until early 2023.