Up until this point, no one has been able to get much offense going in the face of the Conor McGregor Show. But with ample time to prepare, it seems like Nate Diaz has arrived in Las Vegas more than ready to wage mental warfare. On Wednesday he waited patiently for McGregor to arrive to their UFC 202 press conference, and then left halfway through Conor’s first question, throwing bottles on the way out.
Backstage footage from the event showed an upset McGregor reacting poorly to the press conference cancellation, which marked the first time someone had gotten the promotional jump on him. But while Nate managed to rattle Conor’s cage, it’s going to come at a price to both athletes. According to Dana White, there’s at least one lawsuit brewing over the incident.
“The word is in this thing somebody was injured, so there’s going to be a lawsuit,” he told TMZ. “Who knows how it’s all going to play out. Somebody’s filing a lawsuit. The wheels are already in motion on it.”
That’s to be expected when two rich fighters start tossing bottles of water and cups of coffee and full cans of Monster energy at each other with a crowd of people in between them. Also to be expected: that the Nevada State Athletic Commission would hand down fines and punishments over the incident.
“They’re both getting punished,” White said. “What everybody’s got to understand is we’re overseen by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. I guarantee both of these guys are gonna get massive fines and there’s probably going to be a hearing after the fight. There could be suspensions, community service, it’s gonna be ugly.”
When Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier had their infamous brawl back in 2014, the NSAC hit both of them a 10% fine from their next purse. That worked out to $50,000 for Jones and $9,000 for Cormier. The two also ended up getting 40 and 20 hours of community service respectively. Their fight ended up spilling into the crowd as well, but the only thing thrown was a shoe.
NSAC Chairman Anthony Marnell: I'm disappointed. I wish for them, the UFC and MMA community they would act like the professionals they are.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 17, 2016
More Marnell: We will address what happened at the press conference in the normal course of business.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 17, 2016
Fortunately for McGregor and Diaz, the commission seems unable to get a piece of their pay-per-view cut, which is where most of the money is being made on this fight. But high five-figure sums are going to be deducted from their pay for sure, and that’s before they have to settle on lawsuits from anyone hit in the face by a can of Monster energy drink.
