Rob Emerson Says Ian McCall Is Indirectly Responsible For What Happened To Shane del Rosario

The Ultimate Fighter veteran and former UFC lightweight Rob Emerson has made some pretty harsh accusations recently, and they are all aimed at former friend and UFC flyweight Ian McCall. The beef between the two goes way back to when McCall posted a message on twitter saying “I found my friend Rob Emerson f*cking my wife”.

Now it appears that the situation has heated up, as Emerson spoke at the Bellator 116 pre-fight press conference. ‘The Saint’ well and truly puts ‘Uncle Creepy’ on blast, and the subject matter could be considered extremely sensitive. Check out what he said, by way of MMAJunkie:

“For sure it affected my relationship with Shane (Del Rosario). There’s a lot of facts that are not true with that whole thing. Me and Ian have been going back with our stuff for a long time, and he knows I don’t like him. He knows not to be anywhere if I see him, he knows to leave the area. I don’t know, it’s a very personal thing I have against him. I hold him responsible for a lot of the stuff that happened with Shane, indirectly … and he knows it. I tried calling Colin and setting up that fight, I told him ‘What do I have to do to have Ian to come up to 135 and fight me.’

Former UFC and Strikeforce star Shane del Rosario tragically passed away last December, after battling for ten days following a string of heart attacks in late November. The news rocked the MMA world and McCall was reportedly broken in the wake of SdR’s passing. The accusations continued from Emerson:

“That was also a big motivation factor in cutting this weight. But, that kid won’t fight me. I’ll end his career if I fought him, and if I didn’t not just beat him, but end his career, I would retire. I have a deep-seated passion, highly dislike for that kid. Like I said, Shane was my best friend, we were all friends, and there’s a lot of facts and stuff that I’m not going to bring up, but I hold him indirectly responsible for what happened to Shane.”

Currently set to debut as a featherweight in Bellator, Emerson is riding a four fight win streak in regional competitions. ‘Uncle Creepy’ has only one win since 2011 for the UFC, and was forced to withdraw from his recent Fight Night 37 booking against Brad Pickett due to an injury.

McCall’s troubled past is no secret; the California native once overdosed on a cocktail of drugs and was nearly given up on by medical staff when his heart and breathing stopped. The messy situation between McCall and Emerson may well come to a head one day, but I’d be very surprised if any promoter would stoop low enough to use a deceased warrior as a selling point for a fight.