McGregor posts $50,000 bond, released after his arraignment
NEW YORK — Cocksure and uncouth, Conor McGregor was never afraid to defy authority.
He dressed in fur coats and swung chairs at news conferences, reaped the riches of his dalliance with boxing, and demanded his boss cut him an ownership stake in the MMA promotion that made him one of the sport’s most notorious names.
What McGregor wanted, McGregor got — in cash, championships and living his best luxe life.
After one more decisive victory in New York, McGregor scaled the UFC octagon and draped two championship belts over his shoulder while a sold-out crowd roared in approval.
In the underbelly of a New York arena 17 months later, McGregor went wild, using a dolly, chairs and guard rails as weapons, not his fists. Fuelled by revenge and running with a pack of his “hoodlums,” McGregor’s antics landed him in jail — and injured two fighters on today’s UFC 223 card.
Quiet and humbled, McGregor couldn’t talk his way out of trouble in a New York courtroom.
McGregor was arraigned on Friday on charges of felony criminal mischief charges and misdemeanour assault, menacing and reckless endangerment charges following a backstage melee he sparked at a UFC event in New York City.
He spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the conditions of his release, saying, “Yes, your honour.”
McGregor was released on $50,000 US bond — pocket change for a fighter who was guaranteed $30 million last year in his ballyhooed boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. McGregor is due back in court June 14.
Video footage appeared to show the promotion’s most bankable star throwing a hand truck at a bus full of fighters on Thursday after a news conference for UFC 223 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
McGregor was trying to get at UFC 223 main event fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov because the Russian had been involved in a hotel altercation with fellow fighter Artem Lobov. McGregor tried to stick up for Lobov, a close friend, and apparently loaded a private jet with his best buds and flew to New York to rumble.
Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were both pulled from today’s bill because of injuries suffered on the bus. Lobov was pulled from the card for his involvement in the ugly act.