Conor McGregor commended CM Punk for stepping into the Octagon last night at UFC 203 but acknowledged that the former WWE star was well beaten by opponent, Mickey Gall.

Punk, real name Phil Brooks, was submitted in the opening round of his welterweight clash against the New Jersey native and McGregor was asked by TMZ what he thought of the result.

"I'll tell you what, fair play to him because he got in there and fought," he said. "And not a lot of people do. Not a lot of people have the balls to make that walk, so fair play to him.

"He got his ass whooped. God bless, he got his ass whooped! Those WWE guys are straight pussies, I told you! But he isn't, he got in and fought. Fair play to him. Respect."

McGregor has had previous brushes with WWE stars before but refused to be drawn into giving the American news outlet a line to further stoke the flames of what you could very, very tentatively describe as a feud between him and the WWE roster.