AJ McKee survived a tough battle to win the Bellator 187 main event on Friday in Dublin, Ireland, but it was UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor who stole the show.
McKee survived getting roughed up badly in round two of his fight with Brian Moore, but stormed back in the third round. He dropped Moore in an early exchange in round three before taking his back and eventually securing a rear-naked choke.
The card was most noted for a fighter that didn’t even compete at the event.
McGregor was in attendance to support his SBG Ireland teammates that were competing, such as Moore, but his presence was magnified for a post-fight altercation.
After Charlie Ward stopped John Redmond, McGregor leaped over the top of the cage and tackled his teammate in celebration of the victory. Referee Marc Goddard had some words for McGregor and appeared to direct him out of the cage, at which point McGregor yelled back at Goddard and shoved him.
A short time later, McGregor again scaled the cage, but was rebuked by a commission official. As the official stopped McGregor from dropping back down into the cage and directed him off the cage, McGregor slapped him before being escorted out of the cage area.
All of this was, of course, caught on camera and used by Bellator to push people in America to the tape-delayed broadcast slated for Friday night in the U.S.
UFC officials had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication. Mike Mazzulli, the Director of the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation, was on scene in Dublin and overseeing the regulation of Bellator 187 told MMAWeekly.com on Friday that while a full statement on the altercation was forthcoming, “Mr . McGregor is not larger than MMA.”
(Courtesy of BellatorMMA)
- Antonio McKee def. Brian Moore by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:14, R3
- Sinead Kavanagh def. Maria Casanova by TKO (punches), R1
- Charlie Ward def. John Redmond by TKO (punches) at 4:59, R1
- Kevin Ferguson Jr. def. Fred Freeman by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:57, R1
- Paul Redmond def. Sergio de Jesus Santos by unanimous decision, R3
