Fourth Round Mayhem
UFC 229 featured arguably the biggest fight in MMA history and now one of their biggest blemishes. The matchup included Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov who owned a perfect 26-0 record coming into the match and Ireland native Conor McGregor whose personality has gotten him as far as his fighting. Bleacher Report couldn't have been more accurate when they explained that “he (McGregor) isn't just a fighter, Conor McGregor is a competitor.”
Similar to the Mayweather and McGregor fight which took place in August of 2017, this fight had lots of hype leading up to it, as it should. The fight also dealt with some drama prior to the fight, more specifically the incident where McGregor attacked Khabib’s bus after a UFC 223 press conference. McGregor ended up smashing one of the busses windows injuring two other fighters preventing them from competing in the event and sending a UFC worker to the hospital. According to Rolling Stone, McGregor ending up pleading guilty to a single violation of disorderly conduct but avoided jail time as well as anything on his criminal record. This only added fuel to the fire.
Everything leading up the fight and up until the fourth round went according to schedule. Then it went completely off script. After Khabib choked McGregor out he then jumped out of the octagon and made his way into the crowd. At the same that this was happening, three members of Khabib’s team jumped into the Octagon and landed two punches on McGregor. Following this, Dana White refused to hand Khabib his belt who was then escorted out of the ring and back to the locker room. After the fight Dana White stated "I know if we put the belt on him (Khabib) in the octagon there'll be things thrown. I just said let’s just try and get him out of here.” Smart decision.
After tensions cooled the video of what happened was released for the world to see. Now providing different angles of the incident and the ability to replay it over and over again to inspect every miniscule detail. The UFC is now faced with a decision; do they suspend Khabib and take away his belt which obviously would infuriate their team, or do they restrain themselves from any punishment at all and provoke McGregor’s team?