Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. staged their first joint promotional appearance yesterday for their Aug. 26 fight, and the UFC star was ready for the show. McGregor promised a quick knockout, mocked Mayweather's tax-bill issues and even wore a suit decorated with tiny f-bombs.
However, McGregor also made a comment to Mayweather that many found offensive, and it raised anew criticism of the Irishman for allegedly racist behavior. With Mayweather doing some shadow boxing onstage at Los Angeles's Staples Center, McGregor yelled at him, "Dance for me, boy!"
Possibly sensing that he had crossed a line, McGregor quickly changed his comments to, "Dance for me, sir. Dance for me!" However, that did little to allay the negative reception online for his choice of words, especially as some thought McGregor said "son" and not "sir."
This isn't the first time McGregor has been accused of racism, particularly during pre-fight news conferences. At a similar event in 2016, he called Nate Diaz a "cholo gangster from the hood," and later in the year he called Diaz and his brother Nick, another MMA fighter, "cockroaches."