Conor McGregor’s father has some harsh words for Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
It came about in response to the war-torn country’s leader, Zelensky, criticizing ‘The Notorious’ for taking a photo with Vladimir Putin.
In late May of this year, Zelensky met with senior Irish political leaders in Kyiv and apparently told them he was a fan of the Irish fighter, Conor McGregor, until the UFC star posted a picture of himself shaking hands with Vladimir Putin at the 2018 World Cup finals in Moscow.
As the invasion of Ukraine continues by Russian forces, the Ukrainian president went on to accuse McGregor of not ‘being supportive of Ukraine’.
McGregor did indeed post a photo of himself and Putin back in 2018 and took to ‘Instagram’ to praise the Russian President saying:
“This man is one of the greatest leaders of our time. I was honoured to attend such a landmark event alongside him.”
It should be noted that the ‘Instagram’ post was later removed.
These comments from the Ukrainian President about his son, did not sit well with Conor’s father, Tony McGregor, who took to Instagram to address Zelensky saying:
“Zelensky, fight your war and keep my son’s name out yo f*****g mouth.”
Tony McGregor also included a photo of Zelensky in a meeting with Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Angela Merkel in the Instagram story.
Apparently in 2019 while promoting his new whiskey line, Conor McGregor also revealed that he had gifted Putin his very first bottle of ‘Proper Twelve’ Irish whiskey when they met, speaking at a press conference in Moscow, saying:
“Many people don’t know, the very first bottle of Proper Twelve Irish whiskey, I gifted to Vladimir Putin. President Putin’s security detail is second to none as I’m sure you know, you don’t mess around with Vladimir. So, I gifted the bottle and I gifted it to his security. They had to take the liquid from the bottle to make sure the liquid was safe and it was not maybe poisoned or what not and then it was gifted to Vladimir Putin.”
There obviously is a history there, but make no mistake that was 4 years ago. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the picture of McGregor and Putin obviously still has lasting effects.
I guess you can’t blame a father for defending his son. It will be interesting to see if Conor McGregor addresses President Zelensky’s comments directly.