When Conor McGregor was 'manhandled' by bantamweight fighter just before UFC title fight

Only Conor McGregor would get into it with someone who wasn't even his opponent ahead of a UFC fight.

The Notorious fighter did just that ahead of the UFC 189 weigh-in, as tempers flared backstage.

McGregor headlined the card against Chad Mendes at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

He had dropped down to featherweight for the main event and knocked out Mendes in the second round to become interim featherweight champion.

But before that, McGregor had a heated exchange with Urijah Faber, a UFC Hall of Famer who primarily competed at bantamweight.

Faber served as Mendes' coach and after McGregor ruffled his hair before he stepped on to the scales, the Irishman ended up getting "p***ed off".

"That [first incident] was completely off the cuff. I don't even know what it was," Faber said.

"I talked to Conor about it, too. I was like, 'What was that?' and he just said, 'Eh, I don't know.' It started out kind of playing and turned out what it was.

"That happened again. It happened again a couple of days ago. They didn't have any cameras on us, we're giving each other crap and the next thing you know we're testing each other a little bit. Then we're like manhandling each other. It always ends with him getting p**sed off. He likes them until the end when he's getting manhandled. Then he doesn't like it.

"The last one was kind of funny. His guy Tom [Egan] had to come in and be like, 'Alright guys let's break it up.' I feel like it was all in good fun for the most part. We both like to fight. That's what we do."

McGregor and Faber went head-to-head as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, although the two never stepped inside the Octagon.

However the story will be different with McGregor and rival Michael Chandler, with Dana White announcing that the pair will square off at UFC 303 in Newark, New Jersey on June 29.

Image: Getty

It will be McGregor's first fight since he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021.