Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Chaos ensues after Nurmagomedov forces McGregor to tap out
Nurmagomedov wins on tapout, then brawl ensues inside cage
Undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov vowed that the result of his blockbuster UFC 229 main event bout against Conor McGregor would do little to squash the intense rivalry between their camps.
He was clearly right.
Chaos erupted inside and outside the cage immediately after Nurmagomedov finished off a mauling of McGregor by forcing a tapout with a rear-naked choke at 3:03 of the fourth round Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Nurmagomedov leaped over the cage after the win, and a massive brawl broke out with fans pushing their way through barricades and joining the fray as Nurmagomedov was mixed up with McGregor’s corner.
As all the attention was focused outside the cage, more scuffles were sparked inside the cage when someone appeared to go after a startled McGregor.
Police handcuffed several people, and both fighters were escorted from the cage before the official announcement was made declaring Nurmagomedov the winner.
It’s the latest incident between the two lightweight superstars and their
camps.
McGregor was arrested in April for throwing a dolly through a bus window in an attempt to go after Nurmagomedov, who had confronted McGregor’s friend and training partner Artem Lobov two days earlier.
Nurmagomedov could be the one facing discipline for Saturday’s incident, but when he returns he will almost certainly face top contender Tony Ferguson, who solidified his spot as the top contender in the division with a stoppage of Anthony Pettis in what certainly will be in consideration for fight of the year.
Pettis’s corner stopped the fight after two insane rounds of back-and-forth action when the former champion complained of a broken hand.
Ferguson, who is less than six months removed from major knee surgery, has won 11 straight fights.
Heavyweight Derrick Lewis stole the show by salvaging a victory over Alexander Volkov with a thunderous knockout in the closing seconds of the third round.
Lewis was on his way to a loss after dropping the first two rounds only to land a massive overhand right and follow up with short rights on the ground to finish it off with 15 seconds left in the fight.
It was the third straight win and ninth in the last 10 for Lewis, whose postfight interview might be remembered as much as the knockout that brought the crowd to its feet.
Lewis removed his fight shorts while still in the cage and had them slung over his shoulder while he talked to commentator Joe Rogan because his “(area) was hot.”
“I knew that I was down on the scorecards going into the third and I had to just go out swinging and pray to Jesus that I landed something,” said Lewis, who joked that President Trump had asked him to make his Russian opponent look bad.
Rising light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes remained undefeated with a unanimous decision over Ovince Saint Preux, though the method of victory was controversial.
Reyes appeared to knock out Saint Preux just as the final horn sounded, and he backed away to celebrate the victory. The referee, however, didn’t wave off the fight and it went to the scorecards, where Reyes was awarded the comfortable win anyway.
It was just the second time an opponent had gone the distance with Reyes in 10 career fights.
Michelle Waterson stated her case to make a move in the women’s strawweight division with a solid win over veteran Felice Herrig in the first fight on the pay-perview card
Waterson got the better of the exchanges in the standup as expected, but even found a way to win from her back as she negated a takedown with several big elbows that allowed her to get back to her feet.
It was her second straight win and fourth in six bouts, with the losses coming to current champion Rose Namajunas and contender Tecia Torres.