The clip of Conor McGregor attacking Khabib Nurmagomedov’s bus earlier this month prior to UFC 223 will live in infamy.
It was a heinous act by the Irish superstar that left a dolly through the bus window and multiple fighters injured from the glass. Not to mention the fact that at least one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) executive felt like he was “going to die.”
Even for a bus jam-packed with professionally-trained fighters who punch people in the face and squeeze necks for a living, McGregor’s melee was stunningly shocking. Just ask UFC lightweight Paul Felder, who saw the action firsthand and remembers how surprised he was when it all went down.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘What is this guy doing?’” Felder said on the most recent episode of The MMA Hour.
“What is he on? What’s on his mind? You have everything going on in the world and this is how you act? I couldn’t believe it.”
Felder, who was originally scheduled to fight at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York, before opponent Al Iaquinta was moved up to the main event opposite Nurmagomedov, is one of the toughest fighters on the UFC roster. But when it comes to 20 grown men running around crazy like a flock of headless chickens, “Irish Dragon” really didn’t know what to expect.
“At first I thought it was some of Khabib’s guys, but then I thought, ‘Wait, that’s Khabib’s bus’. Then I realized it was all the Irish guys and I was like ‘Oh shit!’” Felder explained.
“Then I saw Conor and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ There’s Conor running around in the Barclays Center and I couldn’t believe it. I was waiting for someone to pull out a serious weapon. Depending on who you are messing with, you don’t know what these guys are bringing with them.”
It has since been revealed that McGregor’s bus attack was in retaliation for Nurmagomedov cornering the Irishman’s teammate Artem Lobov in the hotel earlier in the week. McGregor flew his entire goon squad from Ireland to Brooklyn in effort to even the score, but ended up causing harm to those not even aware of the situation.
“It was scary. I really felt for the UFC staff,” said Felder. “I saw some of them getting tossed around and thrown around by some of Conor’s guys. They were in their 50’s too, they were not young guys that were out there. They weren’t fist fighting. They were just making a scene, throwing shit at a bus. It was just stupid.”
McGregor is likely to face some serious legal action moving forward, but he’s lucky that things didn’t escalate even further than they did. If “Notorious” had gained access onto the bus to encounter Nurmagomedov who the hell knows what would have happened.