UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor caused quite the stir when he hopped the cage after Charlie Ward defeated John Redmond at Bellator 187.
John Kavanagh is the longtime coach of McGregor and he claims the fighter was simply overemotional on that night.
“Charlie is one of Conor’s very close friends and he’s coming off two pretty devastating losses,” said Kavanagh on The 6 O’clock Show. “He lost fast and hard in both his UFC fights and was dropped by the UFC and then he fought on Bellator. So, when you’re seeing someone that you’re that close with, with two bad defeats and then has a great victory in front of his hometown crowd…he got a bit emotional, jumped in and he didn’t realize that the fight had no actually been called. He thought when he knocked the guy down it was over, but it was actually just the end of the round. The fight wasn’t over. The referee was trying to tell him that the fight was over. It was pretty obvious it was over, in his defense. He was a little bit over emotional there, but you sort of understand when you know his and Charlie’s relationship over the last number of years.”
McGregor not only hopped the cage at the event, but he also got into a shouting match with referee Marc Goddard and making contact with Bellator MMA/ABC officials.
The coach also says the UFC Lightweight Champion tends to celebrate more for his teammates' victories than he does for his own.
“It’s funny because Conor wouldn’t even do that for his own victory. He gets more involved when it’s his teammates', his friends', victories,” says Kavanagh.
At this time, the UFC Lightweight Champion has yet to receive any kind of punishment for his actions, but did apologize on Instagram.
