UFC 202 fight week kicked off, quite literally, in Las Vegas as Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz became embroiled in a wild bottle-throwing fracas at the MGM Grand.
The press conference started with Dana White looking less than impressed as he was asked to explain why McGregor had once again failed to show up on time for a media engagement.
SunSport were in the room live-streaming the event on Facebook Live, as the two UFC 202 main eventers hurled insults, bottles and cans as tempers boiled over in the David Copperfield Theatre.
WARNING: Footage contains very strong language
Dana White had already shown his displeasure at McGregor’s failure to show up on time for the event.
And after the UFC president was forced to cut short the presser, he looked absolutely livid – and who could blame him?
Sure, this fracas will undoubtedly raise more awareness of the fight and generate more pay-per-view buys, but with the UFC now under new ownership from publicity giants WME-IMG, the chaos of the press conference was not a good look.
WARNING: Video contains strong language
It brought up memories of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier’s brawl in the MGM Grand lobby a couple of years ago and will put the UFC in the mainstream headlines for all the wrong reasons.
McGregor and Diaz are two of the most exciting fighters in MMA, but the mainstream coverage of their skills will probably go little further than an assessment of their throwing arms.
The foul-mouth tirade between Diaz and McGregor was a stark contrast to the respectful rivalry between the two co-main eventers, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and Glover Teixeira who stood, looking somewhat embarrassed, as the chaos ensured in front of them.
After the chaos had died down SunSport chatted with members of the MGM security staff, officers from the Las Vegas police department and other event-related officials who were caught in the crossfire, which saw a number of people – including a Las Vegas police officer – struck by the missiles thrown.
While The ‘Carnage in the Copperfield’ was undoubtedly unsavoury and not something that’s going to benefit the sport’s reputation, it has certainly kicked off fight week in a big way.
What had started out as a relatively pedestrian start to fight week went from zero to 100 real quick, and we now have an even bigger rematch to look forward to at the weekend.
To paraphrase the late, great Muhammad Ali, they’re gonna get it on, ‘cos they don’t get along.
And after this afternoon’s shenanigans, a fair few more people will be tuning in.
WARNING: Video contains very strong language
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