Conor McGregor Throws Shade at Machine Gun Kelly After VMAs Scuffle

Conor McGregor didn’t mince words when addressing his scuffle with Machine Gun Kelly at Sunday night’s 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. Photos from the evening showed the two appearing to get caught up in a red carpet fight, which had to be broken up.Although McGregor described the confrontation captured in numerous photographs as “absolutely nothing,” he didn’t hesitate to throw a little shade at the “Papercuts” musician when speaking to Entertainment Tonight later that evening.

Speaking to the outlet backstage, McGregor, who attended the annual ceremony as a presenter, insisted that “absolutely nothing happened. I don’t know. He showed up, and I don’t know. I don’t know the guy.” He went on to reiterate, “nothing happened with me” before going on to throw a little shade at Kelly when stating, “I only fight real fighters, people that actually fight, you know what I mean. I certainly don’t fight little vanilla boy rappers.” McGregor added that he doesn’t “even know the guy. I don’t know anything about him, except that he’s with Megan Fox,” Kelly’s girlfriend whom he was seen with throughout the night.

Conor McGregor is throwing shade at Machine Gun Kelly. 😬 #VMAs https://t.co/FJ7v0Kowr4 pic.twitter.com/vtC7ca3oeY

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) September 13, 2021

The heated moment went down during the VMAs red carpet before the show even kicked off. While details about the moment remain unclear, a source confirmed to Page Six that McGregor and Kelly “got into a fight at the top of the carpet” and needed to be “pulled apart.” A separate source told TMZ the fight occurred after McGregor requested a photo with Kelly. After the musician declined, according to the source, Kelly pushed McGregor, who then tripped backward and spilled his drink. McGregor then threw what was left of his drink at Kelly. Another source corroborated the story about the picture request prompting the confrontation, adding in a statement to PEOPLE that McGregor “went in on it a little bit” and eventually began swinging his cane, which he is using as he recovers from an injury during his UFC 264 fight against Dustin Poirier, in Kelly’s direction.

While a representative for Kelly declined requests for comment, McGregor’s rep denied that he asked for a photo. His rep added that “Conor and Dee are in their seats enjoying the show. Conor appreciates all his fans” and noted that Kelly “attended Conor’s last fight.”

Thankfully, both McGregor and Kelly seemed to easily move past the moment. While McGregor went on to present the award for Artist of the Year, which went to Justin Bieber, Kelly went on to take the stage alongside Travis Barker for a performance of their song “Papercuts.” Kelly has not yet addressed his scuffle with McGregor.