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Draymond Green, Conor McGregor trade social media blows over Warriors jersey

Draymond Green greets Floyd Mayweather at STAPLES Center after a Nov. 19, 2015, game. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)
Draymond Green greets Floyd Mayweather at STAPLES Center after a Nov. 19, 2015, game.
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)

Everything about the run-up to the Aug. 26 fight between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and UFC superstar Conor McGregor has carried at least a whiff of the intentionally ludicrous and over-the-top histrionics of professional wrestling. It’s only natural, then, that the NBA’s reigning top heel would eventually find himself caught up in the ultra-loud trash-talking crossfire.

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Early Sunday morning, Draymond Green took to Instagram to express his displeasure with a photo of the Irish mixed martial artist wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey with the No. 23 — Green’s number, albeit in an older version of the Dubs’ home jerseys than Draymond has ever worn — at some point:

We rocking with Floyd bro not you… take that off bruh @thenotoriousmma

A post shared by Draymond Green (@money23green) on Jul 23, 2017 at 1:22am PDT

“We rocking with Floyd bro not you… take that off bruh @thenotoriousmma,” Green wrote in the post’s caption.

Shortly thereafter, Mayweather popped into the comments of the post with an apparent vote of approval for Green’s support, writing, “Splash for the cash,” followed by the hashtags #warriors and #michigan. (That Green played his college ball for Michigan State, rather than in Ann Arbor, is neither here nor there.)

Never one to allow anyone else to get the last word if he can help it, McGregor showed up in the comments, too, taking Green to task and clarifying just whose No. 23 he was wearing:

Conor McGregor offers clarification, with a side of insult.
Conor McGregor offers clarification, with a side of insult.

“That’s C.J Watson mate,” McGregor wrote. “I don’t know who the f*** you are. No disrespect tho kid, keep hustling and stay i school.

“Now ask yourself why I’m rocking C.j when I don’t know or give a f*** about basketball,” McGregor continued. “I dribble heads off the floor. Not a ball. This is no game here kid.”

Perhaps you, too, are wondering why McGregor would choose the No. 23 that C.J. Watson wore for the Warriors between 2008 and 2010.

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Well, back in September of 2010, Mayweather was arrested and charged with grand larceny, robbery, coercion, harassment and domestic battery stemming from an incident in which Mayweather reportedly struck Josie Harris, the mother of three of Mayweather’s children. From a 2013 story for Yahoo Sports by Martin Rogers:

The altercation happened when Mayweather returned to Harris’ property at 5 a.m. on September 9. Police had already been summoned following a verbal dispute hours earlier, but Mayweather came back. Harris says she was asleep on the living room couch when she woke up to Mayweather, holding her cell phone, yelling at her about text messages from NBA guard C.J. Watson.

Mayweather and Harris were no longer together; the boxer had by then installed Jackson in his home and as his main love interest. But, according to Harris, it was not acceptable to Mayweather for her to see other men while living in a house he owned.

“Are you having sex with C.J.?” Mayweather yelled at Harris, according to the arrest report.

“Yes, that is who I am seeing now,” she replied.

Mayweather then grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the back of the head “with a closed fist several times,” according to the report. He then pulled her off the couch by her hair and twisted her left arm. […]

“All I heard is, ‘Who is C.J. Watson, C.J. Watson the basketball player?’ ” Harris says. “From there it was just … bad. I was powerless. He was holding me down. I couldn’t fight back. The kids were screaming and crying, ‘You’re hurting my Mom.’ “

At one point, Mayweather yelled, “I’m going to kill you and the man you are messing around with,” Harris told police. “I’m going to have you both disappear.”

Watson later reportedly denied dating Harris. Mayweather would eventually reach an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to a reduced battery charge and no contest to two charges of harassment, resulting in him being sentenced to serve 90 days in jail, complete 100 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine. Mayweather started serving his sentence in June of 2012, and was was released on Aug. 3, after only two months, for good behavior. The incident is one of many in Mayweather’s past related to domestic violence.

And, lest we be in any way confused by McGregor’s chosen method of angering/insulting/trolling/whatever his opponent, we need only look back six months for evidence of the UFC champion taking this particular tack in his “trash talk” with Mayweather:

So, y’know: super cool stuff, all around.

Unsurprisingly, nothing McGregor said or intimated did much to change Green’s mind:

Draymond Green would like the last word, please.
Draymond Green would like the last word, please.

“Hahahahaha that number won’t be worn again when I’m finished with it clown!” Green wrote in a comment replying to McGregor. “[Olympic] Gold medalist, NBA champ, all star, DPOY etc!!! Hahahaha stop it boy! Nate Diaz(Bay Area stand up) whooped you in your ring! [NOTE: McGregor evened the score with Diaz five months later.] Money May about to destroy you!!! Take that warrior jersey off bruh you’re an incredible internet troll we don’t rock with you! Go train bum!!”

Another day, another instance of the run-up to Mayweather-McGregor giving all involved, and even some who previously weren’t involved, a chance to truly cover themselves in glory. Great work, everyone. Let’s all delete our social media apps and rinse our eyes out with bleach.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!