SandyMaloneNew York, NY – Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Conor McGregor was captured on video at a Fight Week press conference on Thursday, and started trashing the place.
UFC President Dana White told ESPN that a warrant had been issued for McGregor’s arrest following the melee, but the New York Police Department told ESPN that they were investigating the incident and no warrant had yet to be filed.
UFC 223 media day was being held at the Barclay’s Center on April 5, and McGregor was not expected to attend.
His refusal to defend the title he won in November of 2016 has caused issues for the UFC, because he has effectively shut down competition in a lucrative division, Deadspin reported.
The organization had announced its intention to strip McGregor of his championship belt this weekend, and give to the winner of the Max Holloway-Khabib Nurmagomedov fight, and McGregor was reportedly furious about it.
Shortly after McGregor arrived at the Barclay’s Center, a series of videos began appearing on social media that showed the champion fighter throwing barricades and trash cans at other fighters.
One video showed that he picked up a long metal fence-like barricade and carried it across the room, attempting to throw it at a bus, before somebody intervened and took the barricade away from him, setting it down on the ground.
Not to be thwarted, the video showed McGregor began knocking over trash cans and other equipment before rushing up to one of the buses filled with fighters.
In another video, the altercation that precipitated the hijacking of the barricade was shown.
McGregor can be seen running up to a bus full of fighters and calling out someone to come fight with him.
“Open the f**kin door!” he can be heard saying in the video.
Inside the bus, somebody else was heard asking “Mike” if he was okay. The bus began backing out of the area.
“What the f**k is wrong with him?” someone on the bus asked.
Then McGregor grabbed an object and smashed the windshield of the bus, the video showed.
“I’m gonna f**king kill this guy,” somebody inside the bus raged, as the bus continued to back away, and a barricade came down in front of it.
Fighter Michael Chiesa suffered an injury during the chaos, including cuts to his face, and was in the hospital.
Chiesa’s face was lacerated multiple times, according to Forbes.
White said that Artem Lobov has been removed from UFC 223 because he was apparently part of the McGregor crew that stormed the building, ESPN reported.
You can see videos of McGregor’s attack below (scroll down for more):