Before the UFC 196, Conor McGregor posted a video where he is sparring with the former IBO and IBF welterweight boxing champion Chris Van Heerden, in preparation for his rematch with Nate Diaz. In that video, McGregor seen to being able to compete on equal terms with the boxing champion.

Questioned about the sparring session, van Heerden praised McGregor skills in an interview:

Conor comes with a boxing background. I was surprised how well he could handle it. His boxing is really not bad. I’d say after a full training camp where the focus is 100% boxing, he might just shock a lot of boxing fans.

However, after the footage being released, the boxing champion claimed that it was edited in order to show McGregor looking good:

He delete it latter and apologizes to McGregor:

After a Good Sleep you all made me think!! I Apologize for my Tweets should have kept it to myself Conor .M did me a Fav in the End #Sorry

— Chris van Heerden (@TheHeat001) July 5, 2016

On July 7th, Van Heerden released the full video on his Facebook page in order to prove his point when he stated that it was actually edited. He also offered his apologies to Conor McGregor, saying that his first reaction was wrong, regretted about the tweet and explained that it was a blow to his ego.

He wrote:

So in the spirit of that I have posted ONE unedited round of our sparring, all three minutes so that you can judge for yourself if I had the right to be a little upset. Again I have the utmost respect for Conor, he gave me a great opportunity but I also gave him my best and I think my best is worth showing to you without any cuts or edits. ENJOY