Reuters
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the U.S. poses for a photograph with his opponent Tenshin Nasukawa during a news conference in Tokyo.
- Conor McGregor unleashed an expletive-laden rant on Instagram following Floyd Mayweather's confirmation that he will return to the fight game.
- Mayweather announced his next fight, a potential MMA bout against Japanese competitor Tenshin Nasukawa, at a Rizin press conference on Sunday.
- McGregor said it looked like "something out of Rush Hour 5."
- McGregor's social media has been labelled as another "racism controversy" as it follows other racially-charged things the UFC striker has said in the past.
Conor McGregor unleashed an expletive-laden rant on Instagram just one day after Floyd Mayweather confirmed his comeback with a fight against Tenshin Nasukawa.
Mayweather and Nasukawa made the shock announcement at a press conference on Sunday, where it was revealed the unbeaten fighters would collide at the Rizin 14 event at the 37,000-capacity Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on December 31.
Mayweather, 41, takes on Nasukawa, 20, in a fight with rules that are yet to be determined. At Sunday's media event, the American boxer said he would be "giving the people something they've never seen before," which suggests kicks may be permitted.
The fight will be Mayweather's first since he stopped the UFC striker Conor McGregor in the 10th round of a boxing rules contest in 2017 - and Irishman McGregor has not responded kindly to the news, likening Mayweather's next fight to the "Rush Hour" franchise.
"Is that a tracksuit or a sauna suit Floyd," McGregor posted on Instagram. "Is it hot in Tokyo or what's the story here? That climate change is no joke f--- me."
He added: "What in the f--- is going on here? Who's this little p--- next to you ? That's mad s---. Like something out of Rush Hour 5 or something. Chris Tucker and Jackie f------ Chan back in this b---. F------ brilliant. Mad little b------ you are Floyd. Fair f---- to you mate. No lie. F--- it."
Comparing Mayweather to the American actor Chris Tucker, who was a staple of the "Rush Hour" film series, and the Japanese mixed martial artist Nasukawa to the Hong Kong stuntman Jackie Chan, has embroiled McGregor in a "racism controversy," according to The Independent.
McGregor, no stranger to controversy, told Mayweather to "dance for me boy" during the whirlwind worldwide promotional tour ahead of their landmark bout last year. He then claimed he was not racist because he was "half black from the bellybutton down," thrusting his groin into the air, which he called "a little present for my beautiful black female fans."
In 2015, he called the German fighter Dennis Siver a "Nazi" and, before he fought the Brazilian fighter José Aldo he said he "would invade his favela on horseback and kill anyone who wasn't fit to work."