Colby Covington has launched a scathing attack on Conor McGregor labelling the once two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion the "laughingstock of the MMA" after the Irishman spoke about moving up to the 170-pound division.

McGregor is currently preparing for his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July and is unlikely to return to the 170-pound division anytime soon. The conversation about "the Notorious" making a comeback started when he called out Kamaru Usman after the latter's dominant victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 last month.

The Irishman and Usman went back and forth on social media calling each other out but there has been no talk about a fight in the near future. Covington, who is expected to be Usman's next opponent for the UFC welterweight title, dismissed any possibility of McGregor moving ahead of him in the queue for a title shot.

I’m a block at 170 guys. Give me till end of year at this 155 weight. I’ll get the strap and then I’ll go up again. After green fungus panties hahaha “cos any one of these fools can get it” - usman ?

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 25, 2021

Except when I touch you at 170, they go out. They don’t even go out at 155 anymore for you. I finish people. You get finished. https://t.co/URd8wTHvyZ

— KAMARU USMAN (@USMAN84kg) April 26, 2021

The California-born mixed martial artist did not just dismiss McGregor's chances by claiming his challenge was simply to generate headlines, but went on to call him a "laughingstock." He also stated that the Irishman had no motivation to get back to winning ways having made the big bucks through his whiskey business and the fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

"I haven't seen it, but I've heard about it and that's obviously just Conor trying to get some hype, get some headlines," Covington said, during an appearance on "What the Heck," as quoted on MMA Fighting.

"He's just doing that to grab attention, to grab headlines, make people think he's being taken seriously because honestly, he's a joke. He's the laughingstock in the MMA community and even to casual fans because they're just like, 'Conor's washed up. He's done'," the American UFC fighter added.

McGregor is yet to respond to the allegations made by Covington, who didn't stop at just putting the Irishman down. The American also went on to mock Poirier by calling him "Dustin Sorry-ier" and labelled him the gatekeeper of the UFC lightweight division.

Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor's last foray in the octagon was his win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. Getty
Conor McGregor UFC