Conor McGregor has been in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White’s good graces many times, but this is not one of those times.
Yesterday (April 6), it appeared that things were moving smoothly during the UFC 223 media session. There were a couple of tense faceoffs, but nothing out of the ordinary. Conor McGregor, Artem Lobov, and their entourage changed all of that.
Once media day had wrapped up, McGregor and his crew stormed the Barclays Center looking for Khabib Nurmagomedov. The beef stems from Nurmagomedov and his group approaching Lobov at a New York City hotel earlier in the week. McGregor and co. found a van outside holding the red corner fighters. The “Notorious” one threw a dolly at the van and it shattered a glass window.
Michael Chiesa, who was scheduled to compete tomorrow night, suffered multiple cuts to his face. Ray Borg also had debris fly into his eyes. Both fighters have been removed from their UFC 223 bouts. Lobov was also yanked from the UFC 223 card.
McGregor eventually turned himself in and was charged with one count of felony criminal mischief and three counts of misdemeanor assault. Chiesa reportedly filed a police report against McGregor.
During an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” show, White laid down the law (via MMAJunkie.com):
“Normally, yes – I would dive right in and do everything in my power to help one of my guys. But not in this situation. He came into the Barclays Center, attacked our fighters, and attacked my staff with a bunch of guys – no. You don’t get my help on this one.”
UFC 223’s card went from having 13 fights to 10 following the media day session. White called the incident “disgusting” and said one of the UFC staff members had suffered a broken hand as a result of the chaos.
