Conor McGregor turns himself in to police after bus attack
Conor McGregor was stripped of the lightweight UFC title after more than a year of inactivity. Photo: Gett
Fight champ Conor McGregor has turned himself in to police after he gatecrashed the UFC 223 media event and appeared to break a bus window, injuring a fellow fighter.
The New York Police Department had said it wanted to speak to the 29-year-old after the chaotic incident at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday morning (US time).
McGregor was being processed and no charges had been filed as of Thursday night.
The day began with UFC President Dana White confirming McGregor was to be stripped of his lightweight title because the Irishman had not fought for the company since he won the title at UFC 205 in November 2016.
McGregor, allegedly angered by the decision, turned up at the press conference with his entourage for Sunday’s event, headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway.
Footage on social media appeared to show McGregor attempting to throw a guard rail and chairs at a bus driving fighters away from the venue.
Video also showed a man throwing a trolley at the bus, breaking a window.
Wow @TheNotoriousMMA… I guess cocaine really is a hell of a drug #ufc223 #nerdbash2018 #DrugFreeWorkplace #DrugFreeIsTheWayToBe pic.twitter.com/AUpKCY07q8
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) April 5, 2018
Reports claimed a warrant had been issued for his arrest, but a NYPD spokesperson denied this.
“There is no arrest warrant. He is wanted for questioning regarding an incident that took place earlier today at the Barclays Center,” the spokesperson said.
The ugly scenes were condemned by White, a long-time advocate of McGregor’s, who called the incident “one of the most disgusting things that’s happened in the history of the company”.
He told ESPN he believed McGregor and “20 guys” were given access to the part of the arena where UFC 223 fighters were boarding a bus after the press conference.
“They got down to the loading docks where the fighters were getting on the buses and attacked them, throwing trash cans, dollies, things like that,” White said.
“Broke one of the windows, cut Michael Chiesa real bad, cut his hand, cut his face.
“Everyone’s shaken up.”
McGregor initially delivered a brief and to-the-point reaction on Twitter to the news he would relinquish his belt.
Before the Barclays Centre incident, he posted on Twitter: “You’s’ll strip me of nothing you’s do nothing c—-.”
Tony Ferguson, who held the interim title in his absence, had been booked to fight Nurmagomedov on four occasions, but the bout fell through again.
Nurmagomedov will face featherweight champion Holloway for the undisputed lightweight crown.
Earlier in the week, Nurmagomedov confronted Artem Lobov, McGregor’s Russian friend, teammate and sparring partner, in a New York hotel, an incident which may have provoked the Irish fighter.
White subsequently told reporters at the venue that Lobov would not be allowed to fight Alex Caceres as scheduled on Saturday.
-with AAP