Report: Conor McGregor Removed From UFC 219 Following Bellator Cage Invasion
Whether Conor McGregor will be punished for his actions on Friday night has been the talk of the town and it would appear that the UFC have already made some moves to punish their UFC lightweight champion.
ABC president Mike Mazzulli was the head of the commission for the Bellator 187 fight card in Dublin, Ireland and according to him, the UFC have been in close contact ever since McGregor invaded the Bellator cage on Friday night.
Speaking today on ‘The MMA Hour’, Mazzulli revealed that the UFC had removed McGregor from a bout set to take place on the UFC 219 card on Dec. 30.
ABC president Mike Mazzulli discusses Conor McGregor's actions at the end of the Ward-Redmond fight at Bellator 187. https://t.co/rwG1YUGMw9 pic.twitter.com/MmaccdZMRI
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“Well the first thing I did was that I explained to everybody that contacted me that I needed 24-hours for a statement,” Mazzulli said. “And I stated that you know and the world knows that Mr. McGregor is not that bigger than MMA. We all know that and Mr. McGregor may not be around in five years, but MMA will still be here. I think that’s very important to understand. Fighter safety is the most important thing in the world and without fighter safety, it will not proceed to the next level like it always has.
“After the event I did reach out, actually, let me rephrase that, I had some executives from the UFC contact me after two hours of what occurred and they basically said to me that it was completely unacceptable in their eyes and that they will be doing something. They did inform me that he was set to be on the Dec. 30 card and he will not be on it. So, I do commend the UFC doing that to some extent for doing that.”
Mazzulli added later on that he fully expects that the UFC will punish McGregor further and that his removal from UFC 219 was just the start of their actions.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say no,” Mazzulli said in response whether he thinks McGregor will be left off the hook. “The UFC’s going to sanction him, there’s no doubt — they already did. They already removed him from the Dec. 30 fight. They already sanctioned him, so they did hit him. He’s not going to be making any more money this year.”
