Bellator 187 is currently in progress in Dublin, Ireland. The main card is airing on tape delay on Spike at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT, but we have no choice but to spoil the result of the main card opener between Charlie Ward and John Redmond.
Ward, who is a friend and teammate of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, was able to get the first-round KO of Redmond just before time ran out in the opening round. McGregor was cageside at the event, and immediately upon the fight’s conclusion, he jumped over the cage and celebrated exuberantly with Ward. What transpired after that was wild, as referee Marc Goddard and commission officials tried to restore order, but McGregor was having none of that. When Goddard told him to leave the cage, he angrily went after Goddard and shoved him as Marc was attending to the badly hurt Redmond.
Here is the video of the incident from multiple angles.
Madness in Dublin thanks to @TheNotoriousMMA!!! DO NOT miss #Bellator187 TONIGHT on @spike 9/8c pic.twitter.com/BGWcOBDvFb
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 10, 2017
Conor McGregor hops into Bellator cage and goes after referee Marc Goddard (via @DutchFightNet) pic.twitter.com/IVXJk15Uks
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) November 10, 2017
#McGregor going for @marcgoddard_uk mental stuff. Place went mad #Bellator187 pic.twitter.com/0yIBlcBHhN
— Anto (@Arsenal__MMA) November 10, 2017
Bellator analyst Jimmy Smith was calling the fight for Spike, and clarified the situation with regards to why McGregor was told to leave the cage.
Commissioner told me after the fight that ref was trying to clear the cage to verify KO was before the bell, hence putting hands on Connor and the melee began
— Jimmy Smith (@jimmysmithmma) November 10, 2017
This isn’t even the first incident between McGregor and Goddard within the past month. At UFC Gdansk in October, McGregor effectively acted as a roving cornerman as he instructed his teammate Artem Lobov during his fight against Andre Fili. Of course, McGregor wasn’t an official cornerman, and Goddard told him to go back to his seat.
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s footage of him slapping a commissioner who told him to get down from the cage.
Conor McGregor also slapped a commissioner tonight as he was told to get down from the cage. Not good.
Video via @BryanLaceyMMA https://t.co/g2wFMsETTc pic.twitter.com/WZkXSV7oOT
— Dale Jordan (@MMAMadDale) November 10, 2017
Per MMA Fighting’s Peter Carroll, “when McGregor initially left the cage, he turned around and ran back into the enclosure shouting “that was a f*cking stoppage” before he was again asked to leave.”
After his final exit from the cage, he did a lap of the stage waving to the fans in attendance.
What happened in Dublin is certainly more serious and could lead to repercussions from the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC).
ABC President Mike Mazzulli, who was serving in a regulatory capacity at Bellator 187, just texted me: “Mr. McGregor is not bigger than the sport of MMA!!!”
— Steven Marrocco (@MMAjunkieSteven) November 10, 2017
Once again, one of McGregor’s teammates competes in the cage, and the end result is MMA’s biggest star commanding all of the attention for negative reasons.
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