A hilarious exchange between Conor McGregor and Jeremy Stephens at this week’s UFC 195 press conference in New York was featured on the latest edition of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on ABC.
Kimmel joked on his show that, “The way things are going, I feel like we’re probably only one or two elections away from having our next president come from the uFC.”
He then went on to reference the trash-talking between McGregor Vs Stephens at the presser, claiming that it was “more freewheeling than the presidential debate,” while adding, “this is part of the reason why the UFC is a lot more popular than boxing.”
He then ran the clip, showing a journalist asking McGregor who, out out of all the other fighters up on the stage with him would give him the toughest fight.
Before he had a chance to answer, Jeremy Stephens piped up from the back row, “Right here, right here. The hardest hitting 145lber, the real hardest hitting 145lber, right here. This guy TKO’s people. When I knock people out they don’t f**king move!”
Not missing a beat, McGregor’s puzzled reaction was priceless.
“Who the f**k is that guy?” ‘The Notorious’ responded as the large audience in attendance at the MSG erupted into laughter.
Stephens admitted after the presser that he’d been looking for a way to insert himself into the conversation around McGregor.
“I wanted to jump in a little bit more and create that buzz because there’s a lot of buzz around McGregor and I wanted to steal that thunder,” Stephens told Brian Stann on Sirius XM Radio.
No doubt becoming mainstream news for being the butt of one of McGregor’s quips wasn’t quite what ‘Lil’ Heathen’ had in mind, though perhaps he’ll take solace from the old adage, ‘There’s no such thing as bad publicity,’ and he’ll get a chance to show exactly who he his when he fights Frankie Edgar on the UFC 205 card in November.
