Early Friday morning, former UFC champion Conor McGregor was escorted by police to a black vehicle waiting outside for him, along with other members of his team. McGregor was taken from the 78th Precinct building where he spent the night after his attack on the Barclays Center Thursday that caused the cancellation of three planned fights at UFC 223 Saturday night.
McGregor has been charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. He turned himself into police and is expected to go before a judge Friday still.
UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s “Get Up” morning program that he isn’t backing “Notorious” this time around.
“Normally, yes – I would dive right in and do everything in my power to help one of my guys,” White said (thanks to MMAjunkie for the quotes). “But not in this situation. He came into the Barclays Center, attacked our fighters, and attacked my staff with a bunch of guys – no. You don’t get my help on this one.”
– It wasn’t a direct result of anything Conor McGregor did Thursday, but the planned UFC 223 main event for Saturday was called off after New York State Athletic Commission officials deemed Max Holloway unfit to cut any further weight. A member of the NYSAC made the announcement during weigh-ins for the card.
“With much regret, and after careful review, a joint decision was made between the state athletic commission and the UFC,” Kim Sumbler, the executive director of the NYSAC, told reporters at the official weigh-ins (thanks to MMAjunkie). “We’ve deemed Mr. Holloway medically unfit to attend the scales (to weigh in). No further comments at this time. We apologize.”
Holloway and Khabib Nurmagomedov were scheduled to meet for the vacant lightweight title. UFC officials are working on keeping Nurmagomedov on the card against an opponent. Holloway, the reigning featherweight champion who accepted the fight on six days notice, offered his apology via Twitter:
. @TeamKhabib my brother I want to keep going but they are stopping me. Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and @Showtimepettis . Give the fans what they deserve
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) April 6, 2018
