Bruce Buffer responds to Floyd Mayweather linking Conor McGregor’s popularity to racism

Bruce Buffer believes there's a little more to Conor McGregor's popularity than just the colour of his skin.

Floyd Mayweather recently claimed that the public adoration of the UFC superstar's antics outside the cage is proof that racism still exists. The former multi-weight world champion cited the negative reaction to his own bravado to back up his point.

"They say he (McGregor) talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I'm cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I'm saying is this, I ain't racist at all, but I'm telling you racism still exists."

Iconic Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer has weighed in his opinion on the pugilist's controversial comments. Buffer told TMZ that the Notorious is one of the biggest stars in MMA for a plethora of reasons, not because of his race.

"The bottom line is that perception is reality, and people perceive you the way they want to perceive you, and this involves whether you’re black, white, red, yellow or purple. And that’s just the way I look at it."

Buffer believes that focusing on the ethnicity of sports stars in relation to their success is a dangerous practice, and it's something society should be straying away from.

"We need to play racism down in this country. We have enough issues going on rather than throwing more gasoline on the fire. Why not look at it like, "Hey, Conor McGregor is saying what he’s saying, he’s backing up everything he’s saying, people are listening to what he’s saying." And, y’know, when Floyd talks people listen to Floyd too." "But they’re two different people from two different fighting sports and they’ll be perceived the way they want to be perceived by the public masses. It’s as simple as that."