Conor McGregor once again found himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this past weekend after he allegedly punched an Italian DJ while he’s been vacationing in Rome with his family.
While McGregor hasn’t responded or issued any kind of statement, Francesco Facchinetti claimed on his Instagram account that “I took a punch for nothing … that punch could go to anyone. My friends, my wife, or other friends. That’s why I decided to sue Conor McGregor because he is a violent and dangerous person.”
In the aftermath of that incident, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping addressed McGregor’s alleged actions, which is just the latest instance where the former two-division champion has found himself in hot water after getting into a physical altercation outside the octagon.
“At some point, Conor’s got to get his sh*t together,” Bisping, who shares a management firm with the UFC star in Paradigm Sports, said on his YouTube channel. “Cause this is going to end badly one day. You need people around you that are going to tell you no. You need people around you that are going to hold you accountable. You need people that are going to say ‘Conor, what the f*ck man?’
“Seems like a long time ago he was the double-champ of the world. I was a fan of that guy. I’m not a fan of this guy. I don’t think anyone’s a fan of this guy. I think soon he’s going to run out of steam to train. He’s going to run out of steam. It can’t continue like this.”
No charges have been filed against McGregor for the incident, but Facchinetti claimed he plans to sue the Irish superstar over the alleged assault. That seemed a little suspicious to Bisping, but he said hitting the UFC star in his bank account might be the biggest deterrent right now.
“We’ve all done stupid stuff when we’re drunk, but again Francesco Facchinetti is the victim here, and he said he’s going to sue Conor,” Bisping said. “Now, I do find it a little weird that he’s not talking about the police, and he’s going straight to the suing thing. But the reality is Conor does love to talk about his money and how much of it he has, and he has a tremendous amount of money. In this day and age, people do sue you. They want to take that money from you.
“I’ve been a victim of that in the past. I’m not saying Conor’s a victim here, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is the guy clearly has one thing on his mind, and that’s Conor’s money. But listen, the guy assaulted him, so fair enough. You make your bed, you’ve got to lie in it.”
McGregor allegedly punching the Italian musician comes just weeks after he got into a separate physical altercation with musician Machine Gun Kelly while attending the MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn.
Both sides seemingly put that issue behind them after it happened, but that was just another occasion where McGregor got into some kind of physical altercation outside the cage.
“It can’t continue like this,” Bisping said. “One day he’s going to f*cking pick on the wrong person and by the way, the old guy at the bar, Machine Gun Kelly, Francesco Facchinetti, right, these aren’t tough guys, are they? I’m not trying to sound tough myself, but he’s not starting with me. The guys he’s starting with aren’t 6-foot-5, covered in tattoos on steroids, are they? No, Francesco Facchinetti looks like he couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag. Machine Gun Kelly looks like the biggest bloody wimp you’ve ever seen in your life, and the old guy at the bar’s an old guy at the bar.
“If he’s truly this much of a bad ass, go out there and f*cking pick on someone not your own size, cause someone your own size isn’t very hard, is it? Pick on someone that can fight. You’re a professional fighter. You’re supposed to be looking for challenges, but what he’s essentially turned into right now is a bully. No one likes a bully.”
While Bisping has been critical of McGregor’s behavior in the past, the former UFC middleweight champion mostly just wants him to get his act together rather than constantly finding himself in these situations.
Bisping wonders if perhaps it’s time that McGregor seek out some professional help that could potentially curb this kind of behavior.
“I’m not here to sh*t on him,” Bisping said. “That’s not what I’m doing. I’m talking about current events in the mixed martial arts space. Conor McGregor goes out there and punches Francesco Facchinetti in the Facchinetti, then we’ve got to talk about it. I guess we’ll see what happens from here. I’m not sure where this is going to go. I’m not sure this guy is going to get any money out of Conor.
“The guy needs some help. I would say the guy needs some help. He needs some people around him to pull him to one side and have a word. I would say go speak to a professional. Maybe some anger management. Far be it for me to say, I’m just saying what I see. Anger management, maybe a psychiatrist because it isn’t going to end well.”