In a year that’s given us a wealth of epic collabs— think Jay-Z and Beyonce, Virgil and Nike, Kanye and Cudi— here’s the link up none of us have been waiting for: Conor McGregor and Vladimir Putin.
Putin formally extended the invite to McGregor to the World Cup final, as his guest.
To document his time in Russia watching France’s World Cup victory, McGregor decided to post a shot of himself and his new buddy Putin, in a textbook boxing pose. We get it, you do MMA.
McGregor proceeded to praise the Russian president as “one of the greatest leaders of our time.”
He also added the words “Россия вперёд!,” which translates to “Go Russia!”.
McGregor’s fans were quick to call the fighter out for posting the photo.
When your favorite fighter has disappointed you more than once… pic.twitter.com/hLsVpjOEcd
— Plazziibo (@plazziibo) July 15, 2018
You may be my favorite fighter of all time but no,man, Putin is not a great leader. Unless you consider leading by fear and murder is considered great. Then yeah I guess he’s great at murder.
— Shawn Coss (@ShawnCoss) July 15, 2018
Blink twice if you’re being held hostage
— Ghobs (@TheGh0bs) July 15, 2018
— The Fun Uncle (@jmacNcheesewiz) July 15, 2018
Sure, this budding friendship makes zero sense, and sure, now we know McGregor either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about Putin’s history of human rights violations. (Not) shook.
Personally, I can’t wait to see whatever an MMA fighter and a world leader could be cooking up together. Is it a UFC-style Trump/Putin smackdown? A cross-cultural shirtless horse-straddling photoshoot?
Either way, Россия вперёд!
Cover image via Instagram @thenotoriousmma.
