Conor McGregor let himself down badly at Bellator 187 on Friday night, as he aggressively confronted referee Mark Goddard following a win for his SBG teammate Charlie Ward over John Redmond.
The stoppage had barely been signalled when McGregor leaped over the cage, sprinted over to his good friend and jumped on him in a manner that appeared to take even Ward by surprise initially.
When Goddard told McGregor to get out of the octagon - the doctors and cornermen of the defeated fighter had not yet entered - McGregor went after him, pushed him, and shouted abuse in the well-respected referee's direction.
The fact that McGregor was shoving officials trying to get at Goddard so much that he was doing so over a fighter that had just been stopped is particularly disrespectful and unacceptable from the UFC lightweight champion.
Bellator released their footage after several clips had already gone viral from the event.
Madness in Dublin thanks to @TheNotoriousMMA!!! DO NOT miss #Bellator187 TONIGHT on @spike 9/8c pic.twitter.com/BGWcOBDvFb
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 10, 2017
McGregor then returned to the cage, where he played up to the crowd before slapping an official.
This will likely cause McGregor some problems, and once again it stems from being unable to control his emotions when his close friends are fighting in the ring.
You can understand how difficult that would be - to a degree - but his behaviour in the 3Arena was out of control. Whatever about starting a fight with a referee, which is mad enough as it is, the lack of respect shown to Ward's opponent is infuriating.
We'll keep you up to date as more emerges.
