Trash talk, drink, a night of blood and an ending of carnage
That was the full bill of entertainment at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night in Las Vegas and it’s no wonder it spilled out into the concourse.
Even before the event, violence had erupted in the stands as fans – both male and female – went at each other in some worrying scenes.
But it’s not like they weren’t stirred up some more during UFC 229 as the aftermath of Conor McGregor versus Khabib Nurmagomedov gave everyone way more to contemplate than the actual fight did.
Khabib jumped 15 feet into the crowd, heel first. McGregor was fighting three of his team mates as he recovered in the Octagon and the Russian was jeered out of the arena, with bottles and other missiles being launched at his head.
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the bad blood filtered into the crowd and into the lobbies of the stadium and more Irish natives were seen embroiled in some unsavoury scenes with shamrocks and tricolours being pulled and dragged and a man in a three-piece suit being hit in the gut as well.
It wasn’t nice but it was not unexpected.
It's the fucking Royal Rumble in Vegas right now.
This Dana's fault. honestly. pic.twitter.com/OPLwv1VPr4
— Big Boss 🇵🇸 (@LordBalvin) October 7, 2018
Dana White was grilled in the press conference afterward about the Khabib and McGregor brawl that saw Dillon Danis being chased by Nurmagomedov and the Dubliner hit by three different members of the opposition corner.
White did his best to play down the impact of what was being allowed to go in the build-up to the fight but it’s hard to deny that excusing some of the racial insults – in both directions – having families insulted and, worse, using footage from the bus incident which obviously saw legal action being taken for some nasty, real-life incidents.
It kept the rivalry between the pair real and it fuelled the sense that this was one clan against another. And this was the result.
