It might not always look like it, but there are rules and regulations in the world of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
While a lot of people are talking about what happened outside the Octagon after the main event fight at UFC 229 – namely Khabib Nurmagomedov, the winner, jumping over the cage and apparently attacking his opponent Conor McGregor’s team – others are more concerned with what happened inside the cage.
They are particularly concerned with the actions of McGregor, who some are accusing of using illegal moves, holds and tactics throughout the UFC Lightweight title matchup.
There are a number of illegal fouls in UFC, including head butting, eye gouging, biting, hair pulling, fish hooking and groin attacks of any kind.
One YouTuber, however, has compiled a video from McGregor and Nurmagomedov’s recent fight, which apparently shows all the times the Irishman used illegal moves and fouls against the Russian and, more importantly, getting away with it.
Specifically, it suggests the rules McGregor broke were: grabbing his opponent’s shorts, kneeing Nurmagomedov in the head while on the floor, and holding onto the fence (with his feet) also while on the floor.
The video also points out the number of times the referee, Herb Dean, didn’t even give McGregor a warning for his fouls.
Check it out:
The video seems to have caught the attention of plenty of UFC fans, who have viewed the clip over 700,000 times since its upload yesterday, October 7.
One person commented:
Dana white’s a joke, and is to blame for allowing McGregor to behave this way. McGregor has no respect for the sport, and not an ounce of sportsmanship! So glad Khabib bet his ass fair & square!!! [sic]
Another said:
I tried to tell people this about Conor. He is so loved people were blind to it. Most of his fights he broke the people mentally. Like Aldo and Alvarez. Those guys both were completely beat before they stepped in the cage. Khabib didn’t care about the talk he wanted action.
Though someone else saw the sport and politics it in all:
Connor is entertaining and brings ufc the most money. What’s the point of having an uninteresting Russian that is crawling on the ground all match that’s not fun for the spectator and its not making the company money
Of course, McGregor wasn’t the only one to be found at fault.
According to ESPN‘s Ariel Helwani, Khabib Nurmagomedov still hasn’t been paid for his win.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote:
Khabib Nurmagomedov has yet to be paid for last night’s fight, according to his team. The Nevada Athletic Commission told UFC president Dana White last night they were withholding his pay until further review of the post-fight incident. Conor McGregor was paid in full.
Members of Nurmagomedov’s entourage were arrested at the scene, but later released. And though McGregor has said he won’t be pressing charges, the full repercussions of the brawl are yet to be revealed.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.