Fans Brawl Before McGregor vs Nurmagomedov at UFC 229

The fight between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov isn't supposed to start for another few [...]

By Joe Schmidt

The fight between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov isn't supposed to start for another few hours, but that didn't stop a battle among fans from breaking out in the audience.

A group of people in attendance for UFC 229 broke out into a fight, with two men and two women coming to blows before the main card even began. One man can be seen wearing a McGregor shirt, and the person who posted the fight speculates the other could be rooting for Nurmagomedov. We don't know why the women were fighting, but their brawl got ugly too.

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The Irish and the Russians are already fighting each other before McGregor-Khabib @roughnrowdy #UFC229 (Via @veryysalty)

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This has been just one event in the wild approach to UFC 229 and McGregor's return to the octagon, with the out-of-cage antics bordering on the territory of a WWE storyline.

McGregor hasn't been a part of an Ultimate Fighting Championship card since he defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016.

The next year was spent hyping up and training for his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr., which was one of the most successful Pay-Per-View fights in history.

Buzz around McGregor's return to the UFC started to pick up steam, though the two sides took a bit of negotiating before he signed a contract for six more fights. And then rumors picked up of Nurmagomedov and McGregor facing off after Khabib won the Lightweight Championship that McGregor forfeited in 2016.

Those rumors escalated when a confrontation between Nurmagomedov and McGregor's friend Artem Lobov led to McGregor attacking a tour bus with many fighters onboard, causing injury to some and having to cancel multiple fights at UFC 223.

The bad blood intensified during the promotional tour for the bout, when Nurmagomedov left the press conference for UFC 229 when McGregor failed to show up on time.

"He should have just stayed put," McGregor said later at the conference. "He doesn't want to be around me. He doesn't want to be around these fans. It is what it is. I've given you enough face-offs and stuff down the years. Let's hope he pulls weight. Get that man into the sauna and cook him like the little chicken-jaw rat that he is."

It appears that the bad blood has spilled over between their fans, though hopefully no one got hurt. Remember, it's best to leave the fighting to the professionals.

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