The UFC used footage of Conor McGregor smashing a bus window with a metal dolly to promote UFC 229, but would the MMA organization use footage of the chaos that occurred at Saturday’s event to promote a potential rematch?
We’ll eventually find out because McGregor released a pair of brief statements Sunday on social media and is already eyeing retribution in the form of a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor with a modified rear-naked choke in the fourth round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas then the 27-0 Dagestan fighter caused a cageside riot by jumping into the crowd and attacking McGregor’s friend and teammate Dillon Danis.
While this was happening, there was also chaos in the Octagon as two of Nurmagomedov’s teammates jumped into the cage to confront McGregor. One man was a UFC featherweight named Zubaira Tukhugov who had been scheduled to fight McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov later this month in Moncton. A different man in a red shirt also hopped the fence and assaulted McGregor with a series of punches before security could step in.
Nurmagomedov made a brief appearance at the post-fight press conference where he apologized yet acted surprised that his actions resulted in criticism and outrage based on some of McGregor’s past actions and comments.
“First of all, I want to say sorry to athletic commission, Nevada. Sorry to Vegas,” Nurmagomedov said in his broken English accent. “I know this is not my best side. I am human being and, like, I don’t understand how people can talk about how I jump on the cage. What about he talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about father, he come to Brooklyn and he broke bus, he almost killed a couple people. Worry about this [expletive]. Why people talk about I jump over the cage? Why people still talk about this? I don’t understand.”
Dana White was one of many people talking about it and the UFC president said he was “disgusted and sick over it.”
Nurmagomedov added: “This is respect sport. This is not trash-talking sport. This is respect sport. I told you before, guys, I want to change this game. I don’t want people talk [expletive] about, like, opponents, talk [expletive] about his father, religion. You cannot talk about religion, you cannot talk about nation, guys, you cannot talk about this stuff. For me, this is very important.”
There will be sanctions doled out by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the extent of which are unknown, and there could be legal action taken too. It’s not clear, however, what the specific fallout will be and whether or not a rematch is a realistic possibility that the UFC has any interest in making.
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