Conor McGregor Issued a Bizarre Callout to Japanese Kickboxing Sensation Tenshin Nasukawa… Now the 20-Year Old Has Responded… With Equally Weird Demands…
Ok, it’s all getting a little bit strange. Earlier today Conor McGregor issued a statement on Twitter, demanding that the UFC instantly open negotiations with RIZIN so that he could fight their star, Tenshin Nasukawa, in an ‘exhibition’ MMA match before the summer.
This all comes after Floyd Mayweather fought the 20-year old sensation on New Year’s Eve. The pair met in Tokyo’s Saitama Super Arena and were booked to fight 3 3-minute rounds. Tenshin was finished after one when his corner threw in the towel because he was knocked down thrice. Mayweather made a cool $9 million for bullying the Japanese fighter.
Now Tenshin has indicated that of course, he is interested in a fight with McGregor – but only if the Irishman agrees to a few special requests. Don’t get your hopes up that this is going to happen anytime soon folks.
I will fight my RISE world GP this year so please watch your diet and wait for me!#RISE#Cygames#RIZIN#kickboxing
— 那須川 天心 (@TeppenTenshin) January 7, 2019
Response
Tenshin responded with two tweets of his own. It’s impossible to know whether he is being incredibly polite or just ridiculously sarcastic as he wrote:
“Dear Mr McGregor. @TheNotoriousMMA Thank you very much for remembering my name. I’m honoured that you would even consider fighting me. 58kg, kickboxing rules would probably get us in the ring sometime in the near future.
I will fight my RISE world GP this year so please watch your diet and wait for me!”
I wish to go to Tokyo to face Tenshin Nasukawa in a Mixed Martial Arts exhibition bout.
Before this summer.
Please arrange this, this instant.
Yours sincerely
The champ champ. @ufc @ParadigmSM— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 7, 2019
Impossible
Ok… watch your diet? Forget about watching his diet, McGregor would literally have to cut off an arm or a leg to get down to 58kg. Let’s put this in perspective. The cutoff point for the UFC flyweight division is 125lbs. 58kg is almost 128lbs.
Meanwhile, McGregor has fought in three weight classes: featherweight (145lbs), lightweight (155lbs) and welterweight (170lbs). While he was very effective at 145lbs, he also looked like a meth addict when he made weight. The cut severely depleted him, leaving him gaunt and drained. There’s more chance of Daniel Cormier going vegan than there is of McGregor making 58kg.
Finished
Hopefully, this will put an end to what was quite frankly a ridiculous story in the first place. This isn’t the first time that McGregor has been linked to a bizarre fight in Asia. His head coach, John Kavanagh revealed that a legitimate offer was sent to them by representatives of the Chinese kickboxer Yi Long. Kavanagh revealed to the True Geordie Podcast:
“I had a guy message me just a few days ago. A Chinese kick-boxer wanted to do three rounds with Conor for $5 million. But this guy was connected and it was a legitimate offer. But I know he [McGregor] wouldn’t [do it]. You get the odd funny message like that. And, like I said, it was genuine. I know the boxing promoter well and he’s very well known. So he wasn’t going to come with an offer that wasn’t legitimate.”
When you’re as big a draw as Conor McGregor is, then, of course, everyone is going to get their red panties out. He’s just become a father of two, so you’d think he be too busy to be calling out Asian fighters on the internet.
