Dillashaw: If I’m a traitor, Conor’s a traitor to Ireland
“If I’m a traitor, I feel like [Conor McGregor]’s an even bigger traitor to his country. He went to Ireland, and he’s a big country man, and then he lives in the United States.”
Conor McGregor assumed his Mystic Mac persona during the filming of TUF 22, and told opposing coach Urijah Faber that bringing in then Team Alpha Male star TJ Dillashaw as a guest coach was an error.
“He is a twerp,” said McGregor as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “You shouldn’t let him into your s—, because he is a snake in the grass and I told you that to your face. You brought him into TUF thinking he would help you. He was there to help him. He’s a snake in the grass and you need to figure that out.”
Last week Dillashaw left TAM for Colorado’s Elevation Fight Team, and there were calls from various quarters that Mystic Mac had done it again. Dillashaw appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and gave an “I am not a snake” speech.
“Pretty crazy – it was just timing,” said Dillashaw. “Ttiming’s everything I guess on that, and it all happened at the time when Conor called us out. It’s actually kind of ridiculous for him to call me a ‘snake’ or a ‘traitor,’ when the fact is I made a business decision. I feel like that’s…that’s like Conor saying it’s making business decisions, it’s all about business, it’s the fight business.
“I’m getting told I’m a snake because I make a business decision for my career. That’s just pretty hypocritical, it’s very hypocritical to me when other people believe what he says.”
“If I’m a traitor, I feel like [McGregor]’s an even bigger traitor to his country. He went to Ireland, and he’s a big country man, and then he lives in the United States now. He moved to Las Vegas. Why? It’s better for his career. It’s business. And so, I put it so everyone understands, I’m just trying to stay on top and I want to become the best MMA fighter possible and I need coaches to do so. Right now in Sacramento, I’m teaching kickboxing classes, Martin Kampmann’s moving home. He was a great mitt-man and a boxing coach, but he’s a boxing coach. We have to coach each other at Team Alpha Male right now, and that’s a big problem for me.”
“Ultimately, it was a business decision. I’m going to have these haters out there, but haters are gonna hate.”