Conor McGregor and his entourage showed up at a UFC 223 media event and caused a fracas. Among other things, they threw a hand dolly through the window of a bus carrying UFC fighters, causing injuries. Three fights for Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view event have been lost because of this incident, with fighters missing through injury or being suspended for involvement in it. Dana White called it “the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company.”
The latest news is that McGregor is now in police custody. Has McGregor finally gone too far?
Yes, McGregor has gone too far, and his career is on a similar trajectory to the career of Jon Jones, which is a shame.
I also think it might be time for UFC to get a new face for the organization besides Dana White. UFC’s got real problems, ranging from steroids to the conduct of its athletes. We’ve watched 2 of the sport’s best stars descend into turmoil in the past 5 years. It’s also by now clear that the athletes from the sport’s glory days of Anderson Silva were also on steroids and that we were watching a fake product.
McGregor has now been charged with three counts of assault and one of criminal mischief.
It was once entertaining to watch McGregor verbally sparring with his opponents, none of whom were able to match his mental pugnacity or wit. He could be pretty amusing with his verbal jabs, and was able to get under the skin and dominate his rivals before even stepping in the octagon, as well as drumming up the fight hype that would make him the biggest star in UFC. However, as time has passed, the funny moments have become few and far between, eclipsed by one-dimensional thuggish shithousery, and he’s become a caricature, like a character from a Grand Theft Auto game. I watched some of the pre-fight media events before the Mayweather fight, and he even managed to make Floyd Jr seem like the “good guy”.
It’s difficult to tell with McGregor how much of it is real and how much is for show, but he’s doing a very good impression of a man for whom fame has gone to his head. He’s bringing UFC into disrepute, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s cut loose. McGregor was already talking about forming his own fight event company during the Mayweather fight build-up, even while Dana White sat next to him, thereby showing no respect to the man that gave him the chance to become what he’s become. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
Meanwhile, four of the fights for this weekend’s UFC 223 have now been cancelled. Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa were injured in the bus attack, Artem Lobov was removed from the card for his involvement in the fracas, and now Max Holloway’s been declared medically unfit. It’s become a bit of a shitshow.
What the Nergamedov vs Halloway fight too. Damn it. Glad I haven’t paid for the PPV yet because Rose vs Joanna isn’t a big enough reason to pay that much money.
It’s pretty surprising that broken glass on a bus could cut people so badly. You’d think that it would be safety glass. It’s pretty easy for me to see this as a publicity stunt gone horribly wrong.