When [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag]’s Twitter began firing off offensive tweets directed at [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] hours before his UFC 246 main event Saturday night, the MMA world was taken aback.
Some of the insults were sexual in nature, directed at McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) and his fiancee. From there, the hack got even worse. A parade of tweets containing racial slurs followed. At one point, a screenshot of Usman’s online bank account was posted.
A couple hours into the wave of tweets, Usman’s Twitter account was deleted.
On Monday, Usman (16-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) issued a statement on the matter for the first time. He did so via his recently reactivated Twitter account. Check out Usman’s statement below.
“It’s really sad and scary that we live in a world where someone can wake up only with the intentions to cause harm to someone else,” Usman wrote. “Whomever it was that did what you did Saturday night, Just (sic) know that KARMA catches us all.”
It’s really sad and scary that we live in a world where someone can wake up only with the intentions to cause harm to someone else. Whomever it was that did what you did Saturday night, Just know that KARMA catches us all 👊🏾.
— KAMARU USMAN (@USMAN84kg) January 20, 2020
UFC president Dana White spoke about the hack following the conclusion of UFC 246, saying he asked McGregor not to do anything about the insults directed at him and his fiancee.
“I called Conor,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC 246. “I said, ‘He got hacked. So don’t say anything, don’t do anything.’ Usman and Ali (Abdelaziz) are sitting right in front of where Conor comes out and does the thing. So the first thing I did was tell Conor that, and he didn’t believe it. He doesn’t believe he got hacked. But, we had no problems, so.”
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Like White said, McGregor was skeptical of the social media barrage being a hack. He pointed to Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz as the potential brains behind the tweets.
“I’m pretty skeptical of that,” McGregor said. “I’m skeptical of that, because one came through early, and it had all the hallmarks of that little (expletive) weasel Ali. They give him control of the accounts. He had Frankie (Edgar’s) account, he had Henry (Cejudo’s) account. This has been going on a while. He gets it and write something through their thing. I’ve been in discussions with some of these athletes, as well, to try to come on board and help them out with that.
“Then the way it was written, I knew exactly where it came from, and now all of a sudden a little bit heavier ones then it became a hack job. Whatever. I don’t know what the (expletive) is going on tonight. It’s been a weird night. The two guys doing the mad stuff. I don’t know.”
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