UFC megastar Conor McGregor made his massive octagon return back at UFC 229 on Saturday, Oct. 6. For the fight, “Notorious” faced off against undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov put on a dominant performance over his opponent, ultimately earning a submission victory over the Ireland native within the fourth round. Nurmagomedov then leaped out of the octagon and sparked a massive fracas between the two fight camps.
One Conor McGregor fan, however, managed to rush inside the octagon during the massive brawl. Footage of the incident may be seen above.
Speaking to For The Win, super-fan David Martin offered his reasoning for rushing into the octagon during the fracas.
“I wouldn’t say adrenaline took over. I’d say patriotism took over first.
“I thought Russia was attacking Ireland. I thought a bunch of Russians were jumping in and this guy (McGregor) was tired and beaten down from the fight and was being attacked by what I thought were a bunch of Russian fans. I needed to step in. I was thinking my country was calling for me right now and I’m going in.”
“I’m disappointed how I didn’t get there faster. In reality, if that guy that hit Conor in the head hit him in a different spot, like right-center of the back of the head and it could have been a fatal blow and Conor could have been dead. It happens all the time at nightclubs, somebody gets punched right in back of head and it’s a fatal blow. Just because you’re Conor McGregor it doesn’t mean that something like that can’t happen to you. I thought Conor could be killed and those guys were going in to kill him and that’s what I could not have happen.”
“I saw Daniel getting really upset and emotional over what happened and he’s there with his two kids and his team was under attack. The last thing I wanted was Daniel Cormier in the ring emotional and swinging.
“I jumped on Daniel’s back and put my arms around him and pleaded with him not to go in. My arms were around him and he couldn’t get over the rail and I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, this guy is gonna turn around and throw me to the ground for hanging on to him.’ I kept saying to him, ‘Your kids are here. Your kids are here.’ He calmed down and as he calmed down I saw the guy in the red shirt jump over the rail and I thought, ‘Oh Jesus, Conor has nobody in there with him.’”
“Conor was about to get attacked. I put my hands on top of Daniel to leapfrog him because he’s not that tall. I leaped over him and saw the door (to the Octagon) open and I wanted to get in there and protect my countryman. I thought there were all Russian guys in there and I wasn’t having that.”
“By the time I got up the steps, I didn’t even know to go straight or right. I just wanted to make sure Conor was protected because he had nobody. Then John Kavanagh got there right before I did and got security around Conor. (Conor) heard my voice telling him to calm down and he heard I was from Dublin.”
“I was talking to him and I just held onto him and pushed security away with Kavanagh because he didn’t want them on him too much, he wanted them to back off a bit. I put an arm on Conor and one on the cage and told him to calm down and breathe. My thing was to calm him down – the last thing I wanted was for Conor to go after everyone.”
“D.C. doesn’t get enough credit for his role in it. If not for D.C. Khabib would have gone back for Conor, there’s no question in my mind. Daniel was a champion of keeping the peace.”
“When one of us goes to war, we all go to war. That’s the patriotic thing to do. I wasn’t going in to fight but to protect a defenseless man who could have been assaulted.”
