UFC superstar Conor McGregor made headlines when he leaped over the cage at Bellator 187 in response to his teammate Charlie Ward’s big knockout finish during the night’s event.
Even though McGregor was only a cage side spectator, not a dedicated corner man for Ward, “Notorious” decided to storm the cage anyways. The UFC lightweight champion would go on to enter an altercation with referee Marc Goddard and to slap a commissioner in the face.
Now John Redmond, the KO’d opponent of Charlie Ward, has come forward with a statement concerning the incident. Speaking to MMA Fighting, Redmond explained that he believes the incident may have affected the fight result.
“I think there was a lot of panic in the ring as soon as he [McGregor] got in there. I think everybody was just concerned with getting him out of there as quickly as possible.
“Marc Goddard was going to let the fight go into the second, but then the commission seemed to overrule his decision. I think that decision was swayed because of the circus and madness that was going down at the time. It was just a mad scene. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The fighter continued:
“I don’t want to piss and moan about it. I don’t want anyone taking pity on me or anything like that. I didn’t get the win, but I showed I was in charge of the fight up until that big shot at the end of the round.
“I think the fight was far from finished and all the madness that was going on in there didn’t help me getting a chance to go out for the second.”
Speaking on Ward’s fight ending strike, the Redmond said:
“I’m not trying to say that the shot didn’t catch me, but by no means was I out,” the Irishman said. “It was right at the end of the round and I think I deserved to go into the second. Maybe if that madness didn’t go down I would have got that.
“A rematch is the right way to go with this and I think after all the interest our first fight generated it would be something Bellator would like to do.”
