Conor McGregor will face Floyd Mayweather once again, but this time they’ll meet in the Octagon, according to reports.
Their boxing match was easily one of the biggest sporting events of 2017, but round two will take place in the Octagon with ‘modified rules’.
These rules are reported to include ‘no elbows’ and ‘no take-downs’.
Omar Al Raisi, editor in chief of The Sports Journal, posted the ‘news’ on Twitter, writing:
With four ounce gloves, no shoes, 5-five minute rounds in 155 division. No kicks, no take downs, no elbows, no knees. Certain things will be allowed like the clinch.
According to Forbes, UFC was ‘set to announce the fight’ at a press conference before the fracas at the Barclays Center, New York on Thursday, April 5.
The Irishman handed himself in to the New York Police Department after he allegedly crashed the media day for the UFC 223 event with his entourage of 30 men.
McGregor allegedly attacked a bus UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov was travelling in, at the Barclays Center, leaving lightweight fighter Michael Chiesa injured.
This has ‘at least delayed’ plans.
Yesterday morning, (April 9), McGregor spoke out for the first time since the incident, posting a message on Twitter.
The now deleted tweet comprised of a photo showing McGregor seemingly being escorted into a car accompanied by a prayer sign emoji.
He also shared the same post on his Instagram account:
Despite the Instagram post receiving over 400,000 likes in just an hour, people in the comments section have certainly had a mixed reaction, with a lot of fans seemingly losing respect for McGregor.
One angrily hit back at those attempting to defend McGregor, saying:
Injuring a man is loyal as f*ck? More like childish as f*ck. Zero professionalism. These f*cking thugs are rich and can do whatever they want and people like you will support them.
However other fans continued to show their support and were very happy to see McGregor back on social media.
While some called McGregor ‘the king’, others referred to him as ‘the greatest of all time’ as well as ‘the man’.
Another wrote: ‘There is only one Conor McGregor, don’t change’.
McGregor has been ordered to return to New York on June 14 for his next court hearing, after being released on $50,000 bail.
He could face serious jail time despite having no previous criminal record.
Assault charges hold a maximum sentence of a year while the felony charge could reach a maximum of seven years.
On top of this, McGregor will have to pay for damages incurred during the attack, which led to several fights being cancelled over the weekend.
Three fights were called off following the incident – Ray Borg v Brandon Moreno, Alex Caceres v Artem Lobov and Michael Chiesa v Anthony Pettis.
Lobov, McGregor’s training partner, was removed from the competition for his involvement in the attack.
Although it’s unclear what McGregor’s exact motives were, the incident came after an altercation between Nurmagomedov and Lobov earlier this week.
It also followed UFC President Dana White’s announcement how the winner of the Nurmagomedov v Holloway fight would win the UFC 155lb belt, stripping the Irishman of his lightweight title.
Stay classy.
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