The UFC appear to have barred several Team Conor McGregor members from entering the Barclays Center on Saturday night.
The UFC lightweight belt, last held by Conor McGregor, is up for grabs in UFC 223’s headliner. If Khabib Nurmagomedov wins, he will get that coveted gold strap wrapped around his waist. If Al Iaquinta gets his hand raised, Dana White has confirmed that he will be recognised as the champion. ‘Raging’ Al came in 0.2 lbs over championship weight, so the commission won’t recognise him as champ. However, the UFC have promised to do something should he win.
At the start of fight week, the promotion may have been hoping for McGregor to show up in Brooklyn. With White pushing for ‘the Notorious’ to return against the winner of the lightweight title fight, his presence would have been appreciated to sell a potential future fight.
However, after the bus attack on media day which left several fighters scheduled to fight on the card shaken and injured, the promotion don’t want McGregor anywhere near the event. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg withdrew from their scheduled bouts on the card after suffering injuries in the incident. Neither were passed fit to fight.
A lot of people missed this https://t.co/isHSnvFyA6
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 7, 2018
Access denied
Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who replaced Mairbek Taisumov to fight Evan Dunham on the preliminary card, shared a photo of the posters that are supposedly ‘everywhere’ in the Barclays Center. According to the poster, several SBG Ireland members have been denied access to the event.
The list of individuals who are ‘not allowed to enter the building’ include head coach John Kavanagh and McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy. Teammate Artem Lobov, who was removed from his fight against Alex Caceres over the incident, is also on the poster.
Check it out below.
https://twitter.com/oliaubin/status/982733525379055622
