NSAC Withholding Khabib’s Purse For UFC 229 Brawl

The repercussions for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s post-fight brawl after the main event of last night’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, are already beginning to appear.

Khabib won the fight via neck crank submission in the fourth frame (watch full highlights here). The undefeated champion incited all-out war when he jumped out of the cage to fight McGregor’s cornerman Dillon Danis. He even threw a flying stomp kick at him. What followed can only be described as the biggest post-fight scuffle in UFC history. Three of Khabib’s teammates jumped in and hit McGregor with a few sucker-punches.

UFC President Dana White first voiced his disgust at the fight. He then detailed that Khabib’s teammates had been arrested. White even claimed they may lose their visas and not be able to fight in the States any longer. That was lifted when news arrived McGregor would not press charges.

Khabib’s teammates may be out of the woods in terms of actual criminal charges. But the dominant UFC lightweight ruler could be facing some very significant punishments of his own. It’s reportedly so serious that White revealed at the UFC 229 post-fight presser that the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has withheld Khabib’s $2,000,000 purse for the fight pending their investigation:

“The Nevada State Athletic Commission pulled the footage from us. There’s an investigation going on. They are withholding Khabib’s purse. They are not withholding Conor McGregor’s They looked at the footage and felt that there was no need to withhold his purse, so they gave him his and they’re holding Khabib’s.”

Dana White’s View Of The Chaos

White then dove into further detail about his view of the attack. He confirmed this was far from what the UFC wanted in this situation. UFC 229 was their biggest event ever, and everything had gone off so easily until that point. Maybe too easily, White said. Either way, he affirmed that the UFC had taken all precautions in terms of security:

“I can promise you, this is not what a mixed martial arts event is normally like. And, uh, you know, when you have such an amazing event that we’ve worked hard to build over the last several months and it goes perfect. I mean, literally, it was too eerie, I kept saying this is too crazy, man. Everybody made weight, everything’s so smooth, this and that. Took all the right precautions. Those of you have been to many events, you’ve never seen this many Metro police officers.”

White was then questioned if the UFC 229 post-main event brawl was actually a good thing for the UFC. True, it may put a temporary black eye on the UFC’s rep, but talk of a rematch was already sizzling amongst fight fans.

The outspoken exec claimed it was not what the UFC wanted no matter if it lead to a rematch:

“It’s definitely not a good thing, and maybe I’m taking it harder than most people would because this is not who we are, not what we do. You guys know. You’ve been a million events, man, a million events. This ain’t like a Red Sox-Yankees game, you know? Believe me, I’ve been to some Red Sox-Yankees game that’ll scare the s**t out of everybody.

“This is not what we’re about. This isn’t what we do, this isn’t how we fact. and, it’s unfortunate that the night the most people are watching, this s**tshow goes on that happened.”