Who knew that an exchange of bottles and cans across an expanse of media members and fans would not go down well with the usually laid back Nevada State Athletic Commission?
It’s not like they arrived at the decision to hand out a five-year suspension to Nick Diaz after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites in 2015.
Oh wait. That’s exactly what happened. And although the commission eventually folded under fan pressure and reduced the ban to 18 months, they’re clearly fond of a harsh punishment for breaches of their rules.
That’s why it may cause some concern to learn that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office has officially filed complaints against both Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz for the infamous press conference that took place ahead of UFC 202.
Diaz storms out of #ufc202 presser, starts throwing bottles. McGregor returns fire. pic.twitter.com/J7D3hngMWC
— Darragh Murphy (@DarrMurphy) August 17, 2016
You’ll almost certainly remember how the August 17 presser closed with a barrage of bottles and cans being hurled between McGregor and Diaz after the latter decided to cut his appearance short.
ESPN.com report that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office has filed complaints against both fighters for their parts in the fracas which almost certainly caused a significant bump-up in the pay-per-view figures that we now know broke the previous record held by UFC 196, which was also headlined by the rivals.
The most similar display of pre-fight chaos came ahead of UFC 178, when Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier brawled on stage while promoting their scheduled bout.
Jones and Cormier were fined $50,000 and $9,000 respectively (10% of their fight purses) for the melee.
A relative punishment for McGregor and Diaz would see them lose out on $300,000 and $200,000 respectively due to their record-breaking paydays earned for the UFC 202 headliner.
Suspensions, although unlikely, remain a possibility as the NSAC love nothing more than making an example out of rule-breakers.
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