Ahead of his headline bout against Conor McGregor at UFC 246 this weekend, Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone has found himself in a war of words with an unlikely opponent.
Cerrone and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have traded barbs this week, after comments on the outfity Cerrone wore the a press conference on Thursday (NZT).
The UFC veteran wore a snakeskin jacket to the conference, with snakeskin also on his hat.
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McGregor took a moment to compliment Cerrone's attire during the press conference, telling his opponent: "That's one hell of a coat, Donald. I have to give credit where credit is due."
When asked exactly what he was wearing, Cerrone said: "It's python. I'm sure PETA might be here because I got rattlesnakes on and python."
McGregor responded: "They have a warrant out for me as well, PETA, they're coming for me, too."
The non-profit group noted the paris comments, and posted on Twitter calling the fighters cowards.
"Hi @TheNotoriousMMA and @CowboyCerrone! You're right! We ARE here—to remind you that only COWARDS would brag about wearing an animal who was likely beaten & skinned alive. Why don't you knock out your insecurities and only wear your OWN skin?" the tweet read.
Speaking at the ultimate media day ahead of the bout, Cerrone clapped back at the group's retort to his and McGregor's exchange.
"Man, I guess if killing humans was legal I could probably wear a badass human jacket," Cerrone said.
"I got a white buffalo at home, PETA. And when she crokes, I'm going to wear a b****ing ass, f***ing legendary white buffalo cape one of these days. At the ranch I have a lot of animals: turkeys, goats, chickens, pigs. We kill them and butcher them, and we eat them all ourselves, man. We use every bit of them.
"It's not like – I don't just go down to the store and buy beef. We raise it and kill it and eat it. So, if there's something inhumane or unjust about raising and killing meat for my own sake, PETA, you're f***ed up.
"Granted, I didn't kill the snake or raise the snake to build a python jacket, but goddanm it was f***ing cool, so I had to wear to it."
cerrone will square off against McGregor in the headline fight at UFC 246 in Las Vegas on Sunday (NZT), which to pair moving up to welterweight for the bout.
While Cerrone has been fighting between welterweight and lightweight over the past couple of years, McGregor has fought just twice in the weight class before - a win and a loss against Nate Diaz.
The former featherweight and lightweight champion impressed when stepping on the scales to weigh-in, looking fit and ready for action.
But while McGregor impressed at the weigh-in, the card did lose on bout as Alexa Grasso missed the 115lbs strawweight limit by a massive 5.5lbs which resulted in her scheduled bout against Claudia Gadehla being scratched by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.