Referee Marc Goddard oversaw a bout between featherweight competitors Artem Lobov and Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night Gdansk.
In the second round of the contest, the UFC Lightweight Champion in Conor McGregor can be heard giving Lobov instructions and Goddard decided to send the fighter back to his seat in the crowd.
“The reason I interjected is because Artem gets a fourth cornerman cage side giving instruction,” Goddard told MMA Fighting. “That’s not allowed. Imagine had Conor talked him through a fight-ending sequence. Then what?”
The instructions that McGregor did give Lobov before getting sent back to his seat didn’t help much because the fighter suffered a decision loss.
Goddard is also stating that if McGregor sat at his seat while shouting instructions, then there is little he would’ve done.
“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.”
That wasn’t the only time McGregor got into trouble at the event because he was caught using a homophobic slur backstage while talking to Lobov.
