Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been temporarily suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) pending a full investigation into the post-fight brawl that marred the UFC 229 event in Las Vegas on Oct. 6.
Both fighters will be temporarily suspended on Oct. 15, pending a hearing on Oct. 24, ESPN’s Sports Center reported on Thursday, citing a decision by NAC Executive Director Bob Bennet.
A hearing is set to determine if they will be banned for good.
Commission chairman Anthony Marnell told ESPN on Monday that the board continues to investigate the Saturday fracas.
Nurmagomedov, from Dagestan, Russia, had his $2 million purse held with a complaint pending, multiple media outlets reported. McGregor received his $3 million payment, but that was before the NSAC saw video that implicated the Irish star of post-fight wrongdoing as well.
“We will be filing against Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Marnell told ESPN. “Because we withheld one purse, we will have to move expeditiously to a complaint and hearing. We have held 100 percent of one of the fighter’s money. Temporary suspensions will be out shortly, and we’re shooting for a final hearing date in November.”
The severity and length of the punishment that the two men are expected to face will depend on the outcome of the hearing. The worst case scenario on the table for both is indefinite suspension. The commissioners will vote whether to go that far after reviewing the materials of the ongoing investigation into the fracas that followed McGregor’s fourth-round submission loss to Nurmagomedov.
Putin Congratulates Khabib
Russian President Vladimir Putin met and congratulated Nurmagomedov on Wednesday, calling the Dagestani fighter’s victory “worthy and convincing.”Putin also told the UFC lightweight champion that he planned to ask Nurmagomedov’s father, who took part in the meeting, to “cut you some slack.” When Nurmagomedov apologized for his post-fight actions in Las Vegas during a press conference, he famously said his father would punish him more severely than the Athletic Commission.
Putin expressed sympathy with the fighter’s actions following the bout, when Nurmagomedov scaled the cage and charged at members of McGregor’s entourage, sparking a large-scale melee.
While it is good to keep emotions in check, Putin said, “anyone could have jumped [from the cage] in the same way” and called the pre-bout trash talk a “provocation.”
“If we are attacked from the outside, not only you, we could all jump in such a way… there could be hell to pay,” Putin told Khabib and his father, Abdulmanap.
Nurmagomedov Threatens to Quit UFC
Nurmagomedov has threatened to quit fighting in the UFC if the organization punishes Zubaira Tukhugov for punching Conor McGregor during the post-fight brawl.“If you decide to fire him, you should know that you‘ll lose me, too. We never give up on our brothers in Russia and I will go to the end for my brother. If you still decide to fire him, don’t forget to send me my broken contract, otherwise I’ll break it myself.”
Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor in the fourth round via submission, but the fight didn’t end there. He jumped over the octagon’s walls and attacked a member of McGregor’s team, Dillon Danis, in the crowd.
Several of Nurmagomedov’s teammates and McGregor then got involved in a brawl inside the octagon.
UFC president Dana White said in a post-fight conference that those who entered the Octagon and attacked McGregor would not fight for the UFC again.
“The guys who jumped in will never fight here again,” he said on Oct. 6. “I’ve been working hard to promote this sport, this is not what a mixed martial arts event is normally like.”
