ESPN reports that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has fined Conor McGregor $150,000 for his part of a water bottle-throwing incident at the pre-fight press conference leading up to UFC 202.
The commission decided to fine McGregor 5% of his fight purse and the funds will be disbursed between the state’s general fund and an anti-bullying campaign proposed by McGregor and his attorney at the hearing. In addition to the fine, McGregor is to do PSAs to benefit children. The Featherweight champion attended the hearing via phone.
The attorney general’s recommendation was to fine McGregor $25,000, community service and media training. But that was not enough for the commission. Their original proposal was to fine McGregor 10% of his fight purse, which would have amounted to $300,000. However, the commission deemed it too hefty a fine. Instead, it came to $150,000 plus the community service.
Payout Perspective:
The arrival of the punishment seemed to be something done on the fly and without much logical reasoning behind it. While the AG recommendation seemed too low to them, they felt that they needed to exact more out of McGregor which was 6 times the recommended amount. Certainly, they could have suspended McGregor from fighting in the state to send a message. But, they realize that he’s set records in the state for attendance and gate in Nevada and that would be detrimental to the state. Although McGregor can appeal the punishment by appealing in court, it seems unlikely.
$150k is an absurd amount to charge a fighter for selling a fight. Do we know how much goes to the general fund and how much to the charity? I think it’s a huge conflict of interest that the commission keeps any of the money that it levies in fines.