NSAC Issues Statement On UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor Brawl

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has issued a statement on the buzzing Khabib vs. McGregor brawl at last weekend’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from Las Vegas. Earlier tonight, the news was released that the NSAC would pursue complaints against both Nurmagomedov and McGregor. It was a bit of surprise in that Khabib’s purse […]

The post NSAC Issues Statement On UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor Brawl appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has issued a statement on the buzzing Khabib vs. McGregor brawl at last weekend’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from Las Vegas.

Earlier tonight, the news was released that the NSAC would pursue complaints against both Nurmagomedov and McGregor. It was a bit of surprise in that Khabib’s purse had been withheld while McGregor’s was released. Nurmagomedov infamously jumped over the cage wall to attack McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. McGregor’s coach recently detailed what Danis did to start the brawl.

The UFC 155-pound champion still stands to face fines, a potential suspension, and possibly even having his title stripped. Khabib and ‘The Notorious’ will appear before the commission in November. Building on chairman Antony Marnell’s words from earlier today, the NSAC issued a statement on the brawl:

The Nevada State Athletic Commission’s (Commission) primary function is to regulate unarmed combat within the State of Nevada. The events that occurred on October 6, 2018 at the conclusion of the Nurmagomedov-McGregor contest—the main event of UFC 229—are currently under investigation by the Commission’s Executive Director, Bob Bennet. Neither the Commission nor its staff, including Executive Director Bennett, will comment on matters under investigation.

No Charges Pressed

Three of Khabib’s teammates simultaneously jumped into Octagon to fight McGregor as Khabib battled Danis. Those men were reportedly arrested, but McGregor ultimately refused to press charges. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) issued their own brief statement that the fights were small and resulted in no arrests:

LVMPD officers assisted with breaking up several small fights that took place after Saturday night’s UFC main event in Las Vegas,” the statement read. “After all parties were separated, no one involved wished to press charges and no arrests occurred.

UFC President Dana White was firm that Khabib’s teammates would never fight for the UFC again.

One of those teammates allegedly involved, featherweight Zubaira Tukhugov, boasted he had “slapped McGregor as promised” anyway. Chairman Marnell said the NSAC had their eyes on this man and knew where he was located.

So the fallout from one of MMA’s craziest scenes is still very much in motion. What will it end with?

The post NSAC Issues Statement On UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor Brawl appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Both Khabib & McGregor Face NSAC Complaints For UFC 229 Brawl

It was fully expected that Khabib Nurmagomedov would face a formal complaint for inciting an all-out brawl after the main event of last weekend’s UFC 229. It was not expected that his opponent Conor McGregor would face a complaint for the UFC 229 brawl as well. That’s just the case according to a report from […]

The post Both Khabib & McGregor Face NSAC Complaints For UFC 229 Brawl appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

That’s just the case according to a report from ESPN tonight. Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) chairman Anthony Marnell revealed they would be filing complaints against both Khabib and McGregor. Temporary suspensions are also incoming.

The situation will be up for a hearing in November:

“We will be filing against Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Marnell said. “Because we withheld one purse, we will have to move expeditiously to a complaint and hearing. “We have held 100 percent of one of the fighter’s money. Temporary suspensions will be out shortly, and we’re shooting for a final hearing date in November.”

Marnell said there were many dynamics in play here. He focused on Khabib’s teammate who jumped into the Octagon to strike McGregor three times:

“There are a lot of things here,” Marnell said. “There are a lot of charges that can be brought against a spectator who came over the barricade, through the commission section and into the Octagon to strike a fighter three times. For the record, I have a massive problem with that. That cannot happen.”

Charges Pending

Marnell claimed the NSAC knew who that man was. It may be the man who is boasting about slapping McGregor online. His next step was to speak with the attorney general to determine what charges could be brought against him:

“We’re taking a really hard look at that gentleman. We know exactly who he is and where he is. I have to let the attorney general determine — is that trespassing, disturbing the peace? That was a serious action and it deserves a serious consequence.”

Marnell then described Khabib’s potential punishment. He noted that the UFC champion would face both a fine and a suspension:

“Both. It’s always both. We could do one or the other, but at least in the chair’s mind, I think the commission will be entertaining a recommendation from the attorney general that will include both.”

Marnell closed by clarifying that the UFC 229 brawl was a very serious issue and putting it in perspective. This was not a brawl outside of the fight, but one at the actual fighting event. The melee is under the regulations of the commission as a result.

Marnell said the punishment has to fit the crime because of it:

“This is a serious issue, this is not a light issue,” Marnell said. “This isn’t, ‘We smacked each other in the face in a hotel lobby the week of a fight.’ This is the night of the event, and it needs to stay inside that field of combat. There are serious regulations and statutes about what took place, and the consequences have to match the actions.”

The post Both Khabib & McGregor Face NSAC Complaints For UFC 229 Brawl appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cynthia Calvillo Receives Nine-Month Suspension From NSAC

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) started it, now the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has finished it in regards to Cynthia Calvillo’s suspension. Back in January, it was revealed that Calvillo had been flagged by USADA for a metabolite of marijuana. The positive test stemmed from an in-competition sample collected following her Dec. 30 loss to […]

The post Cynthia Calvillo Receives Nine-Month Suspension From NSAC appeared first on MMA News.

NSAC Stands By Decision To Let Kevin Lee Fight At UFC 216

Not surprisingly, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) won’t give any weight to the notion that UFC lightweight Kevin Lee, who barely made weight and apparently had a significant staph infection heading into his interim title bout with Tony Ferguson at last night’s UFC 216 from Las Vegas, maybe shouldn’t have been allowed to fight. […]

The post NSAC Stands By Decision To Let Kevin Lee Fight At UFC 216 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

After a harrowing scene at the UFC 216 early weigh-ins on Friday where “The Motown Phenom” missed weight on his first attempt before making it at the last minute after he was given one hour to lose a pound, Octagon commentator Joe Rogan immediately noticed that Lee had a large staph infection on his chest when he got into the cage to fight “El Cucuy.”

The ailment almost certainly played into his difficult weight cut, and it also may have caused him to tire earlier than normal as it drained his body. Indeed he faded a bit in the third round after an impressive start to the interim title fight, ultimately losing to a Ferguson triangle choke. But NSAC executive director Bob Bennett stood by the commission’s decision to let Lee fight, telling MMA Fighting today that two of doctors deemed him medically able to compete:

“My lead ringside physician found Lee medically fit to fight,” Bennett said. “He was examined by our lead ringside physician, along with another ringside physician. Both felt he was medically fit to fight.”

As for the staph infection, Lee admitted that he tried to hide it for as long as possible because after so many high-profile bouts had fallen through at the last minute for the UFC recently, he was motivated to show up and fight in his:

“I tried my best to hide it,” Lee said.“You know, it’s a big event, a lot has been happening with the UFC, these last couple events and I wasn’t going to let nobody down. I worked my whole life for this, it was like a culmination of things. But I’m not going to let this stop me.”

Lee revealed to Rogan that he should most likely have been on antibiotics in the days before UFC 216, and even though the weight cut ended up brutally tiring on him, he was going to do whatever it took to make weight for his hyped bout with Ferguson:

“It was what it was,” Lee said. “I was going to make the weight, even if I had to cut my foot off or something. I said it before, it damn near killed me and I had to do what I had to do. I had a job to do, I’m a professional and I’m going to come out here no matter how bad it hurts. I’m going to come out here and I feel like I put my best performance on tonight, but by the third round it was too much for me.”

Based on the severity of the weight cut, ‘The Motown Phenom’ teased a move up to welterweight for future bouts, something that has proved fruitful for other contenders who have stopped depleting their bodies to the limit in order to gain a size advantage.

But if you ask the NSAC, there wasn’t anything wrong that should have raised suspicion – even if he fought another human with an obvious infection. Should the commission thought longer about allowing him to compete?

The post NSAC Stands By Decision To Let Kevin Lee Fight At UFC 216 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

NSAC Exec Downplays Conor McGregor’s ‘Disappointing’ Claims

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently made his first major media appearance since his Aug. 26 boxing match with the legendary Floyd Mayweather, doing an interview with Carolina Pearce in Glasgow. During the interview, McGregor opened up a bit on his bout with Mayweather, electing to focus primarily on the job done by referee Robert […]

The post NSAC Exec Downplays Conor McGregor’s ‘Disappointing’ Claims appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

During the interview, McGregor opened up a bit on his bout with Mayweather, electing to focus primarily on the job done by referee Robert Byrd. Looking back on the fight, the Irishman made it clear that he wasn’t too pleased with how Byrd handled things. McGregor also said that he felt as if the stoppage, which took place in the tenth round, was a bit early.

Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive Bob Bennet, however, feels as if Byrd’s stoppage was ‘impeccable’. He also said that it’s ‘disappointing’ to hear McGregor making these kinds of claims:

“All I can say is we did our job,” Bennett told MMAFighting.com. “That’s what we get paid to do and that’s what we did. I find it very disappointing that Conor would make derogatory remarks that the fight was stopped too early when really the timing of referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage was impeccable. We looked out for his health and safety.”

Bennet continued on, adding in that the commission did everything possible ‘to ensure it was a level playing field’:

“We did everything we could to ensure it was a level playing field,” Bennett said. “I think the fight was very exciting. The fans loved it. The health and safety of the fighter was always at the forefront, from the beginning of the fight.

“There’s no doubt Conor did a phenomenal job, fighting a future Hall of Famer. Obviously, Floyd had his game plan that worked as well. The actual stoppage, we looked out for the health and safety of the fighter, which is our responsibility.”

Do you agree with Bennet’s comments?

The post NSAC Exec Downplays Conor McGregor’s ‘Disappointing’ Claims appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Scorned GGG vs. Canelo Judge Could Still Score UFC 216

Frequently known to produce head-scratching scorecards in big fights, Las Vegas judge Adalaide Byrd saw her critics rise to a never-before-seen level when she scored last Saturday’s massive GGG vs. Canelo Alvarez an astounding 118-110 for Alvarez in a bout many felt Golovkin had won, resulting in a jaw-dropping draw overall. After the disappointing result […]

The post Scorned GGG vs. Canelo Judge Could Still Score UFC 216 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

After the disappointing result in a fight most boxing purists felt was supposed to re-establish the legitimacy of their sport following the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor spectacle of last month, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) voiced their continued support for Byrd, whose judging saw her as the sole disagreeing score in six split decisions in MMA last year according to MMA Decisions.

But now, they could be waffling on that support – or something. NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told MMA Fighting this week that he would speak with chairman Anthony Marnell, and together they would decideByrd’s fate for the upcoming UFC 216 pay-per-view on October 7 from Las Vegas:

“I will speak with the chairman (Anthony Marnell III) and Adalaide and we will decide in a week or so.”

That was a bit of a departure from Bennett’s previous assessment of the situation, however, as he previously told The Independent that he would give Byrd ‘a break’ as she needed to ‘catch her breath’:

“I’m not going to put her right back in. She’ll still be in the business, but she needs to catch her breath.

“Like in any profession, you have a bad night. Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing, but her score was too wide.”

Indeed the 118-110 score was ‘too wide,’ with a massive windfall of criticism befalling both Byrd and the NSAC for employing her, with some even going as far as to suggest widespread corruption in the grossly uneven draw, where judge Dave Moretti had it 115-113 in favor of Golovkin, and Don Trella scored it an even 114-114.

UFC 216 will feature two title fights when Tony Ferguson meets rising Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title in the main event while Demetrious Johnson attempts to set the all-time record for consecutive UFC title defenses versus Ray Borg in the co-main event. Needless to say, those are two fights that could certainly do without the inconsistency of Byrd’s judging.

For her part, Byrd absolutely refused to address the situation to MMA Fighting, stating she was oblivious to the criticism so therefore could not comment in a laughable bit of deflection:

“I don’t know anything about that. That’s really all I can say.

“I can’t comment on anything, because I haven’t seen or read anything at all,” Byrd said. “I can’t comment, because I don’t even know what people are saying.”

If she truly does not know what people are saying about her farce of a score for boxing’s most hotly contested bout of 2017, then perhaps the NSAC should take some responsibility for once and give her the break Bennett previously discussed.

After all, it’s just not worth putting fighters’ livelihoods on the line in a sport where the hurt each other for money, especially in a city like Las Vegas where capable judges would seem to be readily available. What do you think? Should Byrd be put on temporary hiatus, or should she simply be let go outright?

The post Scorned GGG vs. Canelo Judge Could Still Score UFC 216 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.