The president of the Association of Boxing Commissions and head regulator of the Bellator 187 event Mike Mazzulli has accused UFC star Conor McGregor of assaulting the referee and jeopardising the health of the fighters during his controversial appearance in Dublin on Friday.
Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com shared the full statement. Here’s Mazzulli’s view of the events:
“Mr. Conor McGregor who was a spectator at the time, disrupted the event by scaling the cage prior to the conclusion of the bout. Mr. McGregor’s conduct jeopardized the health and safety of the bout participants by delaying necessary medical attention to the fighters that were injured during the round.
“In addition, Mr. McGregor assaulted Referee Mark Goddard and a Bellator staff.”
McGregor attended the Bellator 187 event in support of his team-mate Charlie Ward, and he jumped the cage after he beat John Redmond. Referee Marc Goddard tried to stop him from doing so, leading to a confrontation in which some shoving occurred.
The Notorious also confronted staffer Mike Johnson and appeared to punch him. Bellator shared video of parts of the incident:
As reported by Raimondi, McGregor has a history with Goddard. At UFC Gdansk, the referee had him removed from the vicinity cage and back to his seating area during a fight between team-mate Artem Lobov and Andre Fili. The UFC lightweight champion also got into hot water for directing anti-gay slurs at Fili.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since his win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November of last year.
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