Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov handed lengthy bans and heavy fines following post-UFC fight brawl
- Professional fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov, 30, and Conor McGregor have both been fined and temporarily banned by Nevada State Athletic Commission
- Nurmagomedov received a nine-month suspension and a fine of $500,000
- McGregor has been banned for six months and fined $50,000 for his role in a brawl between the two after Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor on October 6
- Moments after the fight the Russian jumped the cage to fight McGregor’s team
- Video suggested the brawl was sparked when the president of the agency which manages Nurmagomedov patted a member of McGregor’s on the back
- Both suspensions will date back to October 6, and Nurmagomedov could have his shortened to just six months also, if he appears in an anti-bullying campaign
Professional fighters Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been handed lengthy suspensions and large fines by the Nevada State Athletic Commission following a post-fight brawl at UFC 229 in October.
Nurmagomedov, 30, received the heftier punishment receiving a nine-month suspension and a fine of $500,000, with McGregor, 30, being banned for six months fined $50,000.
Nurmagomedov was punished more harshly as NSAC found he instigated the violence following his win over McGregor in Las Vegas at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 229.
Both suspensions have been backdated to the date of the incident on October 6, where the Russian mixed martial artist retained his UFC Lightweight Champion title at the T-Mobile Arena when he defeated McGregor in the fourth round.
Conor McGregor (left) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (right) have been handed lengthy suspensions and large fines by the Nevada State Athletic Commission following a post-fight brawl at UFC 229 in October
Nurmagomedov launched a feet-first attack on McGregor’s trainer Danis after the fight at UFC 229 on October 6
Nurmagomedov’s suspension could be reduced by three months if he takes part in an anti-bullying campaign in Nevada and appears in its public service announcement.
Nurmagomedov reacted to Tuesday’s news in an Instagram post, writing ‘Wake me up, when it’s all over,’ which is a lyric from an Avicii song, alongside a picture of himself reclining on a sofa with his eyes closed.
At around the same time, he posted on Twitter, ‘Politics forever,’ before retweeting another user’s post featuring a gif of the moment McGregor tapped out on October 6, with the comment ‘most important thing.
McGregor did not immediately respond publicly to the news of the ban and fine.
On the night that Nurmagomedov successfully defended his title against McGregor, there were only a few seconds between the win and the moment the entire stadium descended into chaos as a mass-brawl broke out between the two fighters’ teams.
Instead of celebrating his fourth-round victory the Russian fighter immediately threw his gumshield towards McGregor’s corner and jumped the cage to launch himself feet-first at his opponent’s team – but nobody knew what exactly triggered his rage.
While that was happening, McGregor was involved in a confrontation after a couple of members of Nurmagomedov’s team had entered the cage.
At first, fan-footage from the event appeared to show McGregor throwing the first punch at Nurmagomedov’s trainer.
Danis (bottom right) reacts angrily and Nurmagomedov appears to see the beginning of the brawl from the ring
Nurmagomedov then dodges officials to throw himself over the top of the cage, into the crowd
At first it looked like McGregor threw the first punch, landing a cheap shot on Khabib’s trainer
Things turned ugly as the teams of both fighters clashed, leading to a mass brawl outside
But a later video suggested that the ugly brawl was really the result of the president of Nurmagomedov’s management agency consolingly patting McGregor’s training partner on the back seconds after the match was called.
Rizvan Magomedov could be seen patronizingly tapping Dillon Danis, who was forced to deny directing racist anti-Muslim slurs at Nurmagomedov before the match, and seconds later the pair were shown at the epicenter of the fight.
Nurmagomedov seemed to have been aiming his feet-first attack at Danis after seeing him caught up in a skirmish with the boss of his management team, the New York-based Dominance MMA agency.
Nurmagomedov is seen in other footage appearing to throw punch after punch at Danis, who was later treated for a concussion, as police rushed in to break them up.
Nurmagomedov’s trainer tried to run out of the Octagon to protect his fighter but is stopped in his tracks by McGrego’s swinging fist, who at that point was also scaling the cage.
That first cheap shot caused the trainer to jump back down in order to return the favor and is probably what lead to other members of the Russian’s team rushing into the Octagon.
At around the same time, Nurmagomedov posted on Twitter, ‘Politics forever’
Nurmagomedov also retweeted another user’s post featuring a gif of the moment McGregor tapped out on October 6, with the comment ‘most important thing.
On the night that Nurmagomedov successfully defended his title against McGregor, there were only a few seconds between the win and the moment the entire stadium descended into chaos as a mass-brawl broke out between the two fighters’ teams. The moment right before McGregor submitted to Nurmagomedov on October 6 at UFC 229 in Las Vegas in shown
Both McGregor and Nurmagomedov initially received ten-day bans for the incident, effective from October 15.
Nurmagomedov’s teammate Zubaira Tukhugov was also banned for punching McGregor during the melee.
Both Tukhugov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov were issued one-year suspensions and each fined $25,000 at the same NSAC hearing where McGregor’s and Nurmagomedov’s penalty were handed down.
At the time of the fight, even the idea of a penalty for Tukhugov had Nurmagomedov fuming on Twitter.
Nurmagomedov wrote: ‘I would like to address @ufc. Why didn’t you fire anyone when their team attacked the bus and injured a couple of people? They could have killed someone there, why no one says anything about insulting my homeland, religion, nation, family?
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‘Why do you have to punish my team, when both teams fought. If you say that I started it, then I do not agree, I finished what he had started.
‘In any case, punish me, @zubairatukhugov has nothing to do with that.’
Three of Nurmagomedov’s allies were arrested after they found their way into the cage in order to attack McGregor.
One was able to sneak up from behind and land a sickening blow to the back of the Irishman’s head.
Dana White was disgusted by the post-match scenes and refused to hand over the title belt to the Russian for fear of instigating more fighting within the crowd, as sets of Russian and Irish fans had already been at it before the match even began.
Nurmagomedov was apologetic in the press conference following the fight but said he couldn’t understand why McGregor didn’t share any of the blame.
The Irishman had insulted Nurmagomedov’s family and religion during the build-up to the fight and previously the Irishman had injured others by throwing a dolly through the window of the Russian’s bus.
Nurmagomedov was punished more harshly as NSAC found he instigated the violence following his win over McGregor in Las Vegas at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 229. Nurmagomedov reacted to Tuesday’s news in an Instagram post (pictured), writing ‘Wake me up, when it’s all over,’ which is a lyric from an Avicii song, alongside a picture of himself reclining on a sofa with his eyes closed
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