Conor McGregor was “incredibly insulting” when suggesting people from Derry, and other parts of the north, are not truly Irish, MMA fighter Paul Hughes said following comments made by the Dubliner on social media.
McGregor questioned Hughes’ Irish identify in a series of now deleted tweets, asking why he was draped in an Irish flag following his narrow world title bout loss to Usman Nurmagomedov in Dubai last Saturday.
It is believed McGregor’s outburst was prompted by a comment made by Hughes following the fight.
In an interview with leading MMA sports journalist Ariel Helwani, Hughes, from Lavey, said he was not personally offended but a lot of people in Ireland, especially from the north, “would be deeply offended by the things he said”.
Hughes on Thursday was backed by fellow Derry native, the soccer player, James McCllean, who wrote: “@PaulHughesMMA proper Irishman, keep flying that flag high, class act that fellow Northerners and fellow IRISH are PROUD of.”
In one post, McGregor wrote: “Get that flag off you you little know what you are c--- from up there,”
Questioned over whether he would accept an apology from McGregor, Hughes said: “Not right now, anyway. More so not for me, but more so for my people, from where I come from.
“I kind of just realised when scrolling Twitter before coming on here, probably not the best idea, that it’s probably one of the worst possible things you could say to a fellow Irishman in terms of how deeply insulting it can be.
“As I say, I don’t take it deeply personal, but people from my area certainly will.
“Where I come from, Derry, has a very tumultuous history, and it would be incredibly insulting to say we are not Irish. But I’ll not get into history.”
He described the comments made by McGregor as “another day in his life of tweeting madness”.
Hughes added: “It’s not like I saw that and thought, ‘I can’t believe he said this about me.’ I think it’s just another day in the life for him.
“I don’t hold that much weight to what he says anymore, which is kind of a sad thing but that’s the reality of how I felt. In fact I kind of just laughed at it when I saw it.
“Initially I was like, ‘don’t come at my identity that’s ridiculous’, but then I was just thinking this guy is just on one, and I just don’t care.
“I’ve always paid Conor homage at every opportunity. I’ll always say that he’s the greatest to ever do it. I always believe that.
“But honestly it didn’t really bother me from coming from him. I just don’t hold that much weight to what he says anymore.”
