Midnight Mania: Mac Strips 'Infected' Belal Over Karmic Toe

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It was really easy to make jokes about Conor McGregor's withdrawal from UFC 303 after the Irish superstar revealed a broken pinky toe as the cause. That injury ultimately prevented McGregor from returning at all in 2024, a continued source of frustration. Current UFC Welterweight kingpin, Belal Muhammad, has been less than sympathetic, taking shots at McGregor and his wonky toe on several occasions.

Now, the shoe is on (or off?) the other foot. Muhammad has a gnarly bone infection in his toe (photos here) and was forced to withdraw from his planned UFC 310 main event versus Shavkat Rakhmonov. It's an unfortunate start to his title reign, and Conor McGregor couldn't help but laugh at the irony. In response, Muhammad labeled the former double champion a junkie.

The war of words continued in a since deleted tweet from McGregor, who claims Muhammad will be stripped because of the injury and his unappealing fighting style.

"Scutter talk just like your fight," McGregor wrote. "You lambasted UFC world champions multiple times on having to reschedule their bouts thru injury and now it has come down on youl like a bomb from the skiy, it is glorious to see! No fight. No money. But staph infection hahahaha LOL! BUM! Stripped! Instantly. Zero knockdowns/any excitement or traffic or views or tickets sales in bout, and now also non reliable to show? Strip. Cut. Infected fighter. You have infections"

At the time of writing, UFC has yet to announce an official plan for Shavkat, who may remain on the UFC 310 card and face any number of willing contenders. Alternatively, his title shot versus Muhammad could simply be rebooked sometime in 2025.

As for McGregor, there's still no official update on his return to the Octagon.

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.