Conor McGregor Heaps Praise on Anderson Silva, Blasts Kelvin Gastelum - MMAWeekly

Conor McGregor may not be able to step foot into the Octagon and compete until sometime after April, but that isn’t keeping him from weighing in on the fights that are going on. He took to Twitter on Saturday night to heap praise on former middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, while simultaneously blasting Kelvin Gastelum for parading around UFC 234 with the middleweight title belt.

Silva’s bout with rising star Israel Adesanya was elevated to main event status at UFC 234 after middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was forced to withdraw from his fight with Gastelum because of a medical emergency. Whittaker was diagnosed with an internal hernia and underwent same-day surgery to correct it, as well as a collapsed bowel.

Adesanya walked away the winner in a changing-of-the-guard sort of bout with Silva, though the former middleweight champion gave a solid accounting of himself at 43 years of age. McGregor took note, praising Silva, while again tipping his hat to the idea of one day stepping into the cage with him.

“Anderson is one crafty, craft martial artist,” McGregor wrote. “You only develop these methods through years of hard fought experience. Phenomenal performance. The crafty veteran. Big respect always. It would be an honor!”

Anderson is one crafty, crafty Martial Artist.
You only develop these methods through years of hard fought experience.
Phenomenal performance.
The crafty veteran. Big respect always.
It would be an honor!

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 10, 2019

The Irishman wasn’t so kind to Gastelum, who repeatedly sent his well wishes to Whittaker, but also grabbed a UFC championship belt and paraded it around the arena in Melbourne, doing interviews with it and claiming that he was the rightful UFC middleweight champion; a claim that UFC officials told MMAWeekly.com is untrue.

“Why is that worm holding the 185-pound belt? There are worms crawling on his skin!” McGregor tweeted, making note of Gastelum admitting in interviews that he had developed a staph infection earlier in the week.

“It was absolutely ludicrous to even consider allowing him to compete. Let alone, now walk around the arena shaking our fans’ hands. Someone sort this this instant. And sterilize that belt. Immediately.”

Why is that worm holding the 185lb belt? There are worms crawling on his skin! It was absolutely ludicrous to even consider allowing him to compete. Let alone now walk around the arena shaking our fans hands.
Someone sort this, this instant. And sterilize that belt.
Immediately.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 10, 2019