Conor McGregor rooting for ONE Championship’s Ritu Phogat against Stamp Fairtex in grand prix final

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor (22-6) has thrown his support behind ONE Championship’s “Indian Tigress” Ritu Phogat ahead of next month’s atomweight grand prix final.

McGregor broached the topic of Indian MMA on Twitter early on Friday morning. After wishing his supporters in the country a happy Diwali, the Irishman responded to a tweet about Phogat’s unanimous decision victory over Jenelyn Olsim at ONE: NextGen last month.

“Rooting for the Indians to make a stamp in this game soon,” McGregor wrote. “Very possibly the most respectful and caring nationality I’ve ever met in my life, the Indians. Let’s go India.”

Phogat’s October win over Olsim earned her a fight with Thailand’s Stamp Fairtex on December 3. The winner of that bout will be crowned the ONE atomweight grand prix champion, and is expected to challenge atomweight queen Angela Lee for her title in the new year.

The 27-year-old Phogat (7-1) did not immediately respond to McGregor’s remark, but the UFC superstar did get a reply from Indian-Canadian Arjan Bhullar (11-1), who holds the ONE heavyweight title.

“I‘m here, the stamp [has] been made,” Bhullar wrote before inviting McGregor to train at American Kickboxing Academy in southern California.

The 35-year-old became India’s first champion in a major MMA organisation in April, defeating long-time champion Brandon Vera by second-round TKO.

Once regarded as one of the sport’s top fighters, McGregor has lost three of his last four, sandwiching a knockout win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone between a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and a pair of stoppage losses to Dustin Poirier.

The second loss to Poirier, which went down in Las Vegas in July, left McGregor with a broken leg – an injury he’s still recovering from.