It’s Tuesday and still the events of UFC 229 dominate headlines
Just when you’re trying to get on with things, you’re dragged back into the maelstrom and questions of whether or not it actually happened.
Did the best lightweight in the world really launch himself from the Octagon to start another fight, presumably unfulfilled from the previous 20 minutes?
Did McGregor really get lit on by two corner men? Was he actually on top of the cage trading blows?
Well, yes, he did.
It was so bizarre and so beyond the line of acceptable behaviour that Khabib Nurmagomedov wasn’t even given his belt in the stadium, not to mention the fact that he had his fight purse withheld.
Speaking afterwards, Dana White said that the Nevada State Athletic Commission were less than impressed by what unfolded.
“They are withholding Khabib’s purse. They are not withholding Conor McGregor’s. They looked at the footage and felt there was no need to withhold his purse,” said White.
The UFC president said he also refused to give Khabib his belt because of the bubbling atmosphere in the T-Mobile Arena and the fact that the Athletic Commission were forced to flee.
“I have to start worrying about the fans and the people who are inside the arena – the media, the guys who are there watching the fight – and I felt that if we put the belt on him inside the Octagon, it was going to rain.
“We’ll have to see what happens with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Not just the commission, I mean there’s going to be fines, can these guys get visas to get back into the country?
“He doesn’t have to worry about me right now; he has to worry about Nevada. The governor was here tonight, and he went running out of the building. That’s not good. He’s in trouble.”
Several times, White mentioned ‘the governor’ having to flee the arena, running out to save himself.
And it caught on too with so many people linking ‘the governor’s’ actions to the punishment incoming for Khabib.
So the Governor of Nevada was in the house when the melee broke out at UFC 229. Khabib is screwed. #screwed
— Samir Maignan (@maignanstyle) October 7, 2018
Pretty unprofessional of Khabib and the UFC, If Khabib and his team ain't penalized for what they did. That pretty much means anybody involved in the sport can go ahead and act like this.. Khabib and his team acted like terrorist rats, even made the governor leave the building.
— Daniel Hillyer (@Danielhillyer) October 8, 2018
Props to Conor for not. Great fight plan for Khabib. The whole thing was ruined by Khabib and his team. Oh, the Governor was there and ran out of the building immediately. Not good for Khabib. I'm seeing a long suspension….
— Michael Lannery (@mlannery) October 8, 2018
LMAO, Khabib scarred the governor of Nevada out of the building, apparently. Good job.
— Derek (@ricketyoldshack) October 7, 2018
The governor.
The governor, if you’re wondering who he is, is Brian Sandoval of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the body which regulates all unarmed combat sports in the state.
The picture of the governor running from the building was a vivid one for Dana White to paint but, today, it has transpired that the governor did not run away, fearing his safety.
“He did not run out of the arena,” Mary-Sarah Kinner, a spokesperson for Brian Sandoval told the Reno Gazette Journal. “He merely left, just like any other patron.”
While the governor might not have fled and while it may well have just been effective rhetoric from Dana White, the same man knows the damage that was done to MMA on Saturday night.
“I’ve been working hard for 18 years to build this sport. And for many of you here tonight, it might be your first event but I can promise you this is not what a Mixed Martial Arts event is normally like.”
