UFC 229 aftermath: 6 times in MMA history that brawls broke out post-fight

#5: McGregor jumps the cage – 11/10/2017

Although the UFC announcers tried to portray Conor McGregor as a blameless victim in the UFC 229 post-fight fracas, the reality is that while it was his opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov who caused the brawl there, the Irishman is no stranger to jumping over a cage to confront a largely innocent party himself.

The incident in question took place in late 2017 following ‘The Notorious One’s excursion to the world of boxing for his fight with Floyd Mayweather. McGregor was cornering teammate Charlie Ward in Dublin at the Bellator 187 event, and was evidently a little too pumped up for his friend’s fight.

Ward knocked out opponent John Redmond with seconds to go in the opening round, and showing a flagrant disregard for the rules, McGregor leapt over the cage to celebrate with his teammate – and as officials rushed towards the UFC star to remove him from the scene, he lost it completely.

Referee Marc Goddard was the target for McGregor’s ire, and the Irishman rushed towards him and lunged at him a number of times while being restrained by Bellator officials. For his part, Goddard – a former MMA fighter himself – remained stoic and simply stepped away from the snarling Irishman.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed and McGregor left the cage, but it was a sign of things to come in terms of the wild events that would surround ‘The Notorious One’ in 2018.