Conor McGregor’s ongoing beef with MMA referee Marc Goddard came to a boiling point at Bellator 187 in Dublin last weekend.
McGregor has faced quite the backlash following his outburst, and now Goddard himself has responded in detail to the madness after having a few days to think it over, issuing a lengthy statement on his Facebook page earlier today (via MMA Fighting):
“I was talking only to Charlie Ward at this point and you will see me put my arms between him and Conor McGregor, trying to separate and restore order to notify him to go back to his corner and continue the rest period, I was trying to communicate with Charlie Ward and then trying to tell Conor to leave, it wasn’t done yet.
“This is when Conor McGregor began firstly his verbal assault in my direction. My only thought at this point was to notify Charlie Ward, and his corner team, of my decision at the time and restore order to the fighting area. Also the condition of [John] Redmond and then subsequently bringing in the [doctor] in the rest period to make a determination. Of course the ensuing mêlée and confusion had completely prevented that from happening, that is the result of the actions of one man.”
The bad blood between McGregor and Goddard began back when the UFC lightweight champion was admonished by the referee for interfering cageside for his good friend and teammate Artem Lobov’s latest UFC loss to Artem Fili at October 28’s UFC Gdansk.
A bit of bad blood ensued, so when the famed MMA ref bounced him from the Bellator cage, he didn’t take too kindly to it.
With ABC President Mike Mazzulli saying McGregor will be sanctioned for the indiscretion and removed from his supposed main event at UFC 219, Goddard feels as if the incident is over, and nothing more should come of it.
“I do not wish for any further action to be taken against any party, in particular Conor McGregor, but ultimately that is entirely out of my hands, I hope that the situation can be reviewed, learned from on how we could prevent a repeat instance and then case closed, we move on for the good of the sport.”
Do you feel as if the issue has been blown out of proportion, or should McGregor truly be punished?
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