Brawl out war
McGregor’s UFC comeback ends in mass dust-up From £148 benefits to £100m fortune Crackdown on the cage-side fighters
CONOR “The Notorious” McGregor has gone from struggling on £148 a week benefits to a £100million fortune in a 10-year career.
He left school to train as a plumber in Dublin and came to blows with his father when he quit work to train full-time. He told his dad: “You’ll be sorry when I’m a millionaire.”
His defeat to Nurmagomedov came after a break in his UFC career – in which he won world titles at two weights – when he fought undefeated fiveweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather for a reported £57million. In the run-up to McGregor’s return to UFC, he attacked a bus Nurmagomedov was on in New York, leading to injuries to other fighters. McGregor got five days community service for assault. Irish star McGregor
ANDY DUNN,
WHO would have thought it? Punching, kicking and wrestling broke out at a UFC event.
What. A. Surprise. That is what will be said by those who think the Ultimate Fighting Championship is a freak show, an extension of Khabib, left, goes straight for Conor’s pal Danis Russian team member beats down on Conor Irish fighter is held back Saturday night scrapping on a nightclub doorstep. But mixed martial arts requires discipline, skill and courage.
If it wants to grow more, it has to identify and heavily punish all those involved in the mayhem that followed McGregor’s defeat.
UFC has had an image problem from day one. Unless they crack down heavily on Saturday’s miscreants, that problem will be unsolvable.