https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLWM81p1fN8
UFC 223 has, like so many recent pay-per-views, seen some major changes to the card as the main event will now be Max Holloway against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC featherweight championship.
That matchup figures to produce a great fight, but Thursday’s media day produced some unexpected fireworks at the Barclays Center when Conor McGregor showed up intent on raising hell. McGregor showed up not long after proclaiming Dana White will “strip me of nothing” in response to White saying Conor’s belt was up for grabs.
When McGregor arrived, he confronted a group of UFC fighters as they loaded onto a bus and then, as you can see in the video below, launches a chair at the bus, cracking the windshield before being grabbed by security.
https://twitter.com/jrsvx/status/981960460323848192
You can hear in the background at the very end one voice asking if he’s “cut bad,” and that voice is reportedly Michael Chiesa, per MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani.
According to multiple sources Michael Chiesa suffered a laceration in the fracas. He is being attended to at the arena. Unclear at this time how serious his injury is.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 5, 2018
He also reported Khabib was in the van as well and was possibly the fighter McGregor wanted to confront before he resorted to launching chairs at the van.
I’ve seen video shot by fighters in the van. Very clear Conor is telling someone to get out of the van before being pulled away by security. Khabib and his team were in that particular van.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 5, 2018
Those two have had plenty of back-and-forths through social media in recent years, but this is a completely different escalation of that feud by McGregor. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.
The NYPD is investigating the incident. Dana White has confirmed that there is a warrant out for his arrest:
Dana White said warrant is out for Conor McGregor’s arrest. His plane can’t leave New York.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 5, 2018
NYPD confirms they are investigating the incident at the Barclays Center but no word yet on whether or not Conor McGregor was arrested. Stay tuned for more soon…
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 5, 2018