Conor McGregor got into a little trouble at last night’s UFC Fight Night 118 in Gdansk, Poland. During teammate Artem Lobov’s fight against Andre Fili, McGregor approached the cage and began yelling advice to his training partner. As McGregor was present as a cage side spectator and not one of the three cornermen designated to Lobov, “Notorious” was not following the rules. As a result, referee Marc Goddard offered the UFC megastar several warnings during the fight.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Goddard explained precisely why he warned Conor McGregor during the fight.
“The reason I interjected is because Artem gets a fourth cornerman cage side giving instruction. That’s not allowed. Imagine had Conor talked him through a fight-ending sequence. Then what?”
“Conor was basically acting like a fourth cornerman. Walking around the cage side wherever and whenever he wanted. When Fili took down Artem, Conor was right there. That’s simply not fair and not allowed. I won’t have it. He can’t do as he pleases.”
Continuing his thought on the matter, Goddard added “If Conor had stood up, stayed at his seat, then he could have shouted till his hearts content,” Goddard said. “That’s what he’s supposed to do. But what he simply cannot do, what he is not allowed to do, is approach the cage at any point and as I say act as the fourth corner. That’s unfair and unjust. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’ve done this forever, in any country in any situation. My integrity is not wavered and neither is the rules. We can’t allow that. I simply had to act.”
All that in mind, Artem Lobov would go on to lose the fight to Andre Fili by way of unanimous decision.
