UFC superstar Conor McGregor is facing felony and misdemeanor charges for a fracas in Brooklyn, New York that left multiple people injured. With that in mind, mixed martial arts legend Bas Rutten believes fight fans should give McGregor a “pass.”
“Notorious” lead a large entourage backstage of the Barclays Center on April 5, where the group allegedly attacked a bus filled with red corner fighters for UFC 223. An estimated $8,000 in damages was caused to the bus and multiple fighters were pulled from their respective match ups for UFC 223 following the incident.
McGregor is due back in court June 14 to face misdemeanor charges of assault and felony charges of criminal mischief.
Speaking on Submission Radio, Bas Rutten has decided to offer his thoughts on the matter. Check it out below:
“We are not in Conor McGregor’s shoes. People can shout what they want, they have no clue what goes on. I think once people realize that you have 50 million dollars – he gets mail all day long from people with sick babies and sick kids and sick my grandma and everybody wants him to give money and so on, so on. I mean, he doesn’t only have money, he is super famous on top of that,” said Rutten.
“I know the stupid stuff I did when I was 28 – I didn’t do that, okay, but he has a group around him and he was already angry going in because they wanted to strip him of the title and he’s angry and now the partner, his friends, start saying, ‘hey, maybe we should throw something against them.’ Like, ‘yeah,’ everybody starts agreeing. Yeah, you get caught up in the whole moment and you start doing it.”
“That’s why I said when I was with Joe Rogan, I said, guys, we should give him a pass. And people online, they were like, is he crazy? I’m not saying that (you excuse everything). I’m saying, yes, he’s going to have to pay for what he did, he goes to court, he has to do all that. I’m not saying that (he doesn’t do those things). Of course, he has to – and I said that on Joe Rogan, as well – but give him a pass as a fan,”
“Don’t kick the guy while he’s down. Don’t throw him under the bus. He did so much good for MMA. He just needs to find his way in this world. This guy was pretty much unknown four years ago, now he’s one of the most known guys on the planet. That’s a hard thing to deal with.
“I hope they just… give him a pass, don’t spit him out yet. Let him see if he cleans up. I mean, you give Jon Jones a lot of passes. And me too, I love Jon Jones, I want to see him back. He’s such a talent that is gone and I want to see him fight. This could be a guy that could literally go undefeated his entire life. So yeah, I would love to see a guy like that back.”
