Back in 2016, heavyweight Roy Nelson went toe-to-toe with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. “Big Country” earned a knockout win over his opponent, but the fighter’s dominant performance isn’t what made headlines later that night. Rather, right after his big win, Nelson nudged referee “Big” John McCarthy with his foot in order to push him.
Following the incident, UFC President Dana White had some heated words to say about “Big Country.” In the video below, White can be heard giving his opinion on the situation.
Speaking on Roy Nelson, Dana White stated:
“You can’t aplogize for that. You don’t ever ever put your f**king hands or your feet on a referee for any reason, what so f**king ever. He needs to be buried. He put his foot on his ass to push him. There’s never ever a situation where you put your f**king hands on a referee. Ever.”
White later doubled down on his statement, saying:
“We’ll see how the athletic commission handles it but he needs to be buried for that one. If the athletic commission doesn’t reign on him man. It’s not good. You don’t ever put your hands on the referee. I don’t care what the circumstances are, you don’t do it.”
Of course, the UFC president has not come forward with a similar statement concerning pay-per-view draw and UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
Bellator 187 went down on Friday, Nov. 11, and “Notorious” was cage side in support of his SBG Ireland teammate Charlie Ward. Ward earned a first round TKO victory over his opponent, leading to the most chaotic moment of the night. Directly after Ward’s big finish, McGregor charged the Bellator cage, slapped a commissioner in the face, had a short altercation with the night’s referee and then tackled Ward to the ground in excitement.
With Conor McGregor close to a potential octagon return following his pay-per-view record breaking fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., it seems possible that the UFC president may take a different approach to this UFC competitor’s recent incident.
