It might have gotten off to a slow start, but thanks to a late appearance by Conor McGregor’s Ty Cobb-esque throwing arm and the Diaz’s crew of misfits, yesterday’s UFC 202 presser managed to end on a highly embarassing note involving water bottles, Monster energy cans, and more F-bombs than The Wolf of Wall Street.
In the time since what has officially been dubbed the Bottle Throwing Massacre™, both McGregor and Diaz have given their sides of the story, with the former claiming “self defense” (and also, “F*ck everything”) and the latter giving his typical rundown of being the realest motherf*cker to ever step foot in the octagon. The one thing we haven’t heard, however, is whether or not McGregor and Diaz’s incredibly childlike actions would result in some form of punishment from either the UFC or the MGM Grand. You can’t just try to use some guy’s laptop as a throwing device in the heat of the moment and expect to get off scot-free, after all. Otherwise we’re all just….animals.
In any case, it looks like swift judgement has been handed down to both fighter’s crews in the form of an outright ban from UFC 202.
Both Avila & Lobov confirmed that their respective entourages have been banned by the MGM. Only licensed corners allowed. UFC has confirmed.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 18, 2016
One can only imagine that Jake Shields was given the boot based solely on account of his throwing prowess, but still, it’s interesting that McGregor’s team would be banned from attending UFC 202 when they had nothing to do with the incident in question. Probably for the best, though.
Of course, it turns out that Nick Diaz never had any chance of being able to corner his brother in what is arguably the biggest fight of his life due to some pending issues from his recently-finished suspension. As NSAC director Bob Bennett told Fox Sports:
As of this date Nick Diaz is not permitted to work the corner of his brother Nate because he is still suspended.
Although the term of Mr. Diaz’s suspension expired on August 1, 2016, he remains on suspension pursuant to term 1.03 of his Settlement Agreement because he has failed to either pay his fine in full (his balance is $75,000) or enter into an approved payment plan. As such, the prohibitions of NAC 467.895 apply to Mr. Diaz at this time.
Ah, these must be the “technical difficulties” Nate was speaking about on yesterday’s edition of UFC Tonight. It’s honestly baffling to me that the 209 crew would even be allowed within 100 yards of an arena on fight week considering their repeated run-ins in the past (the Elite XC brawl, the Strikeforce: Nashville brawl, the WSOF brawl…), but then again, the sport would probably be just a biiiit more boring if they weren’t.
