Conor McGregor accused of turning down fight with UFC rival at least five times

'The Notorious' is aiming to return to the cage next year and hasn't fought since suffering a brutal leg injury against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021

MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz has sensationally accused UFC star Conor McGregor of turning down a fight with Justin Gaethje at least five times.

It's been over three years since the former two-division champion last stepped foot inside the UFC cage. McGregor's last fight in the promotion came against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021. 'The Notorious' would go on to lose via TKO in the first-round as well as suffering a brutal leg injury.

The 36-year-old was scheduled to fight former Bellator champion Michael Chandler at UFC 303 earlier this year, but was forced to pull out of the contest due to an injury. Chandler will now take on Charles Oliveira at UFC 309 in November as the American looks to make up for lost time.

Since signing with the UFC in 2013, the Irishman has been involved in several verbal altercations with members of the roster. His rivalries with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Nate Diaz will live long in the memory. However, there are a few foes who he is yet to share the famous octagon with.

One of those is Gaethje. The pair have traded barbs on more than one occasion, but are yet to settle their beef in the cage. Remarkably, in a recent interview with Submission Radio, Abdelaziz - who famously represents 'The Highlight' - has revealed that McGregor has turned down a fight with the lightweight star on at least five different occasions.

“Let’s be real, Conor McGregor will never, will never, will never… he got offered this fight at least five times,” Abdelaziz said. “At least five. He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin Gaethje. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin was because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before and the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess.

“The last five, six years we offered Justin Gaethje so many times. Never once, never once, this man—Even the UFC, told me this, ‘Hey, leave him alone. Don’t talk with him. He doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the internet.’ I promise you, he likes to be the one to start the talk and you retaliate. Why do you think [Michael] Chandler being so nice to him? Why? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor. Conor has to start talking bad and he talk bad back. He’s a weak mental midget. He’s soft like a marshmallow. And he’s a no-good, son of a b****. This is what he is.”

Like McGregor, Gaethje is currently looking for a fight. The 35-year-old was last seen in action back in April, suffering a devastating knockout defeat to former featherweight champion Max Holloway at UFC 300 in Las Vegas.