McGregor should have stood up for UFC pay like Jake Paul has, says ex-champ Couture – while Irishman laughs at Khabib’s manager

Conor McGregor has been accused of letting MMA fighters down in their pay row with Dana White – but the ex-UFC champ has been more interested in a video mocking current title-holder Kamaru Usman and Khabib Nurmagomedov's manager .

McGregor is currently preparing for a do-or-die showdown with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in a fortnight's time.

With their series tied at 1-1 after 'The Diamond' made the Irishman succumb to his first knockout loss in the MMA championship in January, the trilogy decider will determine who faces Charles Oliveira for a shot at the lightweight crown later this year.

But that hasn't stopped Mystic Mac from engaging with jibes at allies of former foe Nurmagomedov, who defeated him by a brutal submission in 2018 for the 155lb strap that derailed McGregor's octagon comeback after a two-year absence, including a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. 

Coming with the caption "this what happens when you fail to promote yourself as a fighter and just decide to copy and paste instead," McGregor shared a video clip with a crying-laughing emoji that showed one particular fighter, represented by Nurmagomedov's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, copying his bragging style on the microphone to promote himself.

Appearing to recycle some of McGregor's best-known quotes, welterweight ruler Kamaru Usman hacks them almost verbatim – whether it is his own take on a "red panty night" or saying that other fighters are "levels below" him while he needs to see "activity" from potential opponents.

McGregor has picked up on this imitation from Usman before, of course.

The day after a KO win for 'The Nigerian Nightmare' over Jorge Masvidal, McGregor shared another clip that showed Usman mimicking his fighting style, too.

"Usman even copying my shots now," he claimed.

"Am I to fight this guy at some stage? I think so. Can’t be copying my words and my shots and not get a smack for it.

"I like 170. It’s mine soon," he finished, in reference to Usman's weight class.

This needling comes amid Abdelaziz recently appearing on Mike Tyson's podcast and saying: "You make money when you fight Conor McGregor because he's a draw.

"But how long is that going to last for? Him and Dustin Poirier – I like Dustin, but both looked like sh*t.

"The McGregor thing is finished. McGregor now is going to be fighting Jake Paul, the Kardashians, he's going to fight chicks… that's what's going on."

Old-school UFC legend Randy Couture has expressed his surprise with YouTube-prankster-turned-boxer Paul pushing president Dana White for better fighter pay, saying McGregor could have taken that responsibility.

"Why is Jake Paul the one to step up and poke Dana and shine a light on what’s going on, and the difference between our sports?," the former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion asked MMAFighting.

"What the Ali Act [legislation providing protection from various abuses] does for boxers – that doesn’t happen for the rest of us in combative sports. I think that’s what needs to change. If it takes Jake Paul to run his mouth and get that done, then great. As long as it gets done.

"It just seems kind of crazy to me that it’s coming from there and we, as athletes in mixed martial arts, can’t come together and can’t hold these promoters to a higher standard and create the transparency that we need in the sport.

"The guy that really had a chance to shine a light on it was Conor McGregor. He got a boxing license. As soon as he got a boxing license, he rendered his UFC contract null and void," Couture pointed out.

"He had the protections of the Muhammad Ali Act when he became an official boxer with that boxing number and he chose to bring Dana White and company back into that fight when he could have done all that on his own, kept all that money to himself and shined a light on the problem in mixed martial arts."

Drawing his conclusions on the 'I'm alright, Jack' selfishness that has sometimes been perceived in McGregor, Couture said: "He chose not to do that. He made $100 million off that fight with Floyd Mayweather.

"That’s more than he’ll probably ever [make] in mixed martial arts."