Conor McGregor Denies Trying To Fight ‘Vanilla White Rapper’ Machine Gun Kelly At The VMAs

Reports that MMA’s Conor McGregor tried to take a swing at rapper-turned-rocker Machine Gun Kelly at the 2021 MTV VMAs are greatly exaggerated — at least, according to Conor McGregor. The Irish fighter denied the “rumors” that he tried to hit Kelly in an interview after the alleged incident, throwing shade at his would-be opponent in the process. When asked what exactly happened by an Entertainment Tonight reporter, McGregor said, “Absolutely nothing. I just showed up — and I don’t know, I don’t even know the guy.” He couldn’t resist taking a verbal jab, though, saying, “I only fight real fighters, people that actually fight. I certainly don’t fight vanilla, white rappers. I don’t even know the guy — except that he’s with Megan Fox.”

Of course, that’s not how some sources, including TMZ, reported it — at least initially. Reportedly, when McGregor asked MGK for a photo on the red carpet ahead of the show, Kelly shoved him away, spilling his drink. Supposedly, McGregor threw the drink at MGK before the two were separated by security. However, in an update to the story, it appears nothing so dramatic happened, as instead, McGregor merely approached MGK with his hand out to say hello and was shoved by MGK’s security guard. As he says above, he doesn’t know what MGK said to prompt that response from security, but a photo of McGregor with his arm out was interpreted by fans as him throwing a punch (because apparently, people don’t know what a punch looks like).

The two both made it inside without any further fuss and, as Conor said, he doesn’t fight non-professional fighters, so the odds of an escalation are low — although it looks like MGK may have lost himself a fan, and vice versa.