UFC 202 headliners Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor plunged Saturday’s marquee pay-per-view event in Las Vegas into chaos after the final press conference was prematurely brought to an end following an ugly bottle throwing exchange, which brought the public into the firing line.
McGregor was 30 minutes late for the conference and his attitude upon arrival irked Nate, who won their first fight via second round submission back in March. Diaz and his entourage walked away from the stage shortly after Conor’s arrival and as they headed for the exit they fired a series of verbal insults at the Irishman.
“F**K you and you’re whole team,” Diaz screamed. While McGregor replied: “What you gonna do? You’ll do f**king nothin! Get the hell out of here.”
The verbal insults then got physical as a member of Team Diaz appeared to throw a plastic bottle. McGregor all but lost control.
Despite appeals from UFC president Dana White, ‘Notorious’ leapt out of his seat and started snatching at bottles and cans from the table in front of him and began launching them through the air back towards the 209 fighter’s corner team.
“That’s a wrap, we are out of here,” White said before pushing McGregor off the stage.
There were no reported injuries to members of the public in the immediate aftermath. But the whole episode, seemingly brought on by McGregor’s tardiness, was embarrassing not only for White and the sport, but also new UFC owners WME, who bought the promotion for $4 billion just weeks ago.
While the fight is under no immediate threat of being cancelled due to the altercation, there may yet be repercussions from the Nevada State Athletic Commission with potential fines and suspensions post-fight directed towards one or both fighters.
