‘You’s’ll Strip Me of Nothin’: McGregor Ignites Mayhem at UFC 223 Media Day
The current lightweight champ, apparently infuriated over the prospect of being dethroned after UFC 223, allegedly attacked a bus containing Khabib Nurmagodenov.
On top of the drama McGregor stirred up (check out the blow by blow account below), Nurmagomedov vs. Holloway will no longer headline UFC 223 on Saturday, as doctors reportedly feared for Holloway’s safety due to the amount of weight he was attempting to cut ahead of Friday’s weigh-ins. Nurmagodemov was initially set to fight interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. But, when Ferguson tore a ligament in his knee following “an accident on a studio set” during pre-fight obligations, Holloway, the current featherweight champion, agreed to take the fight with just six days’ notice. Ferguson’s freak injury marks the fourth time a bout between him and Nurmagodenov has fallen through, and now Holloway has been declared medically unfit to fight. At the moment, there is no confirmation on a new opponent for Nurmagodemov to face at UFC 223
Even though Holloway was moving up a weight class to go toe-to-toe with Nurmagodemov, the Hawaiian’s decision meant undergoing an absolutely brutal weight cut at such late notice. He tweeted an apology to Nurmagomedov, saying that he wanted to push through but was forced to stop.
. @TeamKhabib my brother I want to keep going but they are stopping me. Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and @Showtimepettis . Give the fans what they deserve
Stay tuned to Muscle & Fitness for updates on one of craziest weeks in UFC history.
(FYI: The post below includes some foul language.)
At a press conference on Wednesday ahead of UFC 223, UFC president Dana White clarified a topic he’s largely evaded ever since he set the match between Khabib Nurmagodenov and Tony Ferguson, who was replaced by Max Holloway on Sunday due to a freak knee injury: Will Saturday’s winner be the new lightweight champion, dethroning Conor McGregor and ending Ferguson’s reign as interim champion?
“No interim champ—when this fight is over, one of these guys will be the champion, period,” White told MMAJunkie.
Unsurprisingly, McGregor was furious with the decision. Early Thursday, he posted a tweet expressing his disagreement with the UFC’s decision to strip him of the title he earned in November 2016:
You’s’ll strip me of nothing you’s do nothing cunts.
But McGregor was ready to escalate beyond a war of words. As Thursday’s media day was winding down, McGregor and his crew stormed the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, reportedly looking for Nurmagomedov. They were too late to catch him in the building, but they still created mayhem and got into it with fighters about to depart on a bus, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAfighting.com.
Conor McGregor and members of his team showed up at the Barclays Center at the very end of media day moments ago. There was an altercation with some of the departing fighters who are competing on the card.
Before reportedly fleeing the scene, McGregor and members of his team seemed to damage the bus. Lightweight fighter Michael Chiesa reportedly suffered a cut to the face due to broken glass, and flyweight fighter Ray Borg reportedly” had pieces of glass in his eyes, according to MMA Junkie. Nurmagodemov and his team were also on the damaged bus, although none of them were reportedly injured. Women’s strawweight fighter Felice Herrig posted a video to her Instagram story that depicts McGregor allegedly “causing trouble.”
Felice Herrig captured part of the ruckus caused behind the scenes when Conor McGregor and his team arrived. This is from her Instagram account pic.twitter.com/9R6T2eNNTs
As the dust settled, Dana White told ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto that there was a warrant out for McGregor’s arrest and that he likely wouldn’t be able to leave the state of New York until police sorted out the incident. “He’s going to be sued beyond belief, and this was a real bad career move for him,” White said in the video, which was posted on Okamoto’s Twitter account. Los Angeles Times sports reporter Lance Pugmire, however, said that a New York Police Department spokesperson told him that there was no warrant out for McGregor’s arrest:
NYPD Lt. Tarik Sheppard told me “We are looking to talk to him (@TheNotoriousMMA) about it and anyone else involved in it. If we see him at the airport, we will stop him to talk about this.”
Helwani reported that McGregor’s incursion was a response to a long-simmering feud between Nurmagomedov and Artem Lobov, one of McGregor’s teammates:
As for why this happened today, I’m told from multiple sources with knowledge that the motive was “retaliation” after Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team confronted Artem Lobov, one of Conor McGregor’s teammates and best friends, earlier this week.
McGregor was taken into custody late Thursday, along with Irish fighter Cian Cowley, a friend of McGregor’s who was part of the group that stormed Barclays Center. Both were charged with assault and criminal mischief, according to NBC 4 New York On Friday, journalist Anthony DiLorenzo posted a video on Twitter showing McGregor being escorted out of an NYC precinct in handcuffs.
McGregor’s antics directly impacted the UFC 223 card in the form of three scratched fights: Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis, Borg vs. Brandon Moreno, and Lobov vs. Alex Caceres. While Chiesa and Borg were pulled due to injuries sustained when the bus window shattered, Lobov was pulled due to his involvement in the McGregor situation.
