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19th Nov 2017

BBC show asks why Conor McGregor was not arrested at Bellator Dublin

"Good luck being a police officer, IN DUBLIN, arresting Conor McGregor on a Saturday night"

Patrick McCarry

Conor McGregor lost the run of himself at Bellator Dublin, on November 10, but no charges were made against him and he has not been spoken to, by An Garda Siochána, about his decision to crash the ring after Charlie Ward’s victory.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of Conor McGregor’s apology, which arrived, four days after his impromptu cage arrival at the 3 Arena was the lack of a proper explanation for his apparent slap on Bellator official Mike Johnson.

The UFC lightweight champion had built up a head of steam watching Ward, his close friend, go toe-to-toe with John Redmond and propelled himself into the cage to celebrate when it looked, for all money, that the fight was over.

In all likelihood, it would have been but referee Marc Goddard did not get a chance to properly assess Redmond’s state as McGregor sprung onto Ward in unconfined celebration. What followed was an ugly scene as McGregor and Goddard clashed, the cage flooded with officials, medics and security personnel and a dazed Redmond crawled for cover.

McGregor left the cage of his own accord then returned soon after and aimed a slap at Johnson when he was prevented from re-entering the fight arena.

 

I sincerely apologize for my behavior at last weekends fight event in Dublin. While trying to support a loyal teammate and friend, I let my emotions get the best of me and acted out of line. As a multiple weight UFC champion, executive producer, role model and public figure, I must hold myself to a higher standard. The referee Marc Godard was making a horrendous decision in trying to pick an unconscious fighter up off the floor and force the fight to continue into the second round. Even against the wishes of the said fighters coach. The fight was over. After witnessing my fighter in a fight where the worst happened and the opponent passed away from his injuries on the night, I thought the worst was about to happen again, and I lost it and over reacted. I am sorry to everyone. I sincerely apologize to the Director of the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation, Mike Mazzulli, all the officials and staff working the event, Andy Ryan and his fighter John, two stonch ones that put up a great fight every time. That side will always have my respect, and lastly every one of my fans. I love yous all! I’ve always learned from my mistakes and this will be no different.

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on

McGregor apologised, at least, and it has been reported that he will not now fight in the year-ending UFC 219 due to the incident.

Some believe that McGregor should be punished more that been delayed a multi-million pay-day fight with the UFC. On The BBC MMA Show, host O.J Borg, former UFC star Dan Hardy and Nick Peet [of Fight Disciples] debated McGregor’s Dublin transgression and looked ‘at how Connor McGregor seems to be turning in the new Kanye West’.

McGregor may be more upset at the spelling of his first name than the Kanye comparison.

Peet was far from impressed with McGregor and suggested that he should have been arrested for hopping into the cage when he was not even a sanctioned corner-man for Ward. He declared:

Peet: “This was a guy – a spectator out of the crowd – [and] it doesn’t matter who he is. Let’s take away for a second that it’s Conor McGregor involved. This guys is a spectator from the crowd who has leapt into the cage, who has attacked a referee and attacked a fighter, who could say, as well.

“Then he gets dragged out, then he climbs in again, then he slaps an official. Listen, this has got nothing to do with how Bellator should come in treat him… For me, he should have been arrested on the spot and he should have been taken to jail.

Borg: “Good luck being a police officer, IN DUBLIN, arresting Conor McGregor on a Saturday night”

Peet: “Yeah. Maybe that’s why it didn’t happen, unfortunately. Is this what Conor is now? He’s bigger than the law?”

Hardy was very critical of McGregor after the incident in Dublin and believes his social media apology has only made matters worse. “It’s amazing how people are writing this off like it’s nothing,” he said, adding that Redmond’s health and safety ‘should have been the priority’.

Hardy likened McGregor’s current travails to those of Jon Jones, who was recently stripped of his UFC light heavyweight belt, in that he has achieved most of the goals he has set out for himself and that he has too many yes men surrounding him.

The full discussion can be heard here.