It looks like the big bottle-throwing incident between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor at the final UFC 202 pre-fight press conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada during the fight week build-up to their 170-pound rematch last month is going to end up costing both men a nice chunk of change.
Nevada Athletic Commission Executive Director Bob Bennett told Ariel Helwani during an interview for MMAFighting.com on Monday that both fighters are facing NAC sanctions for their roles in the wild incident. ESPN.com was first to report the news that Diaz and McGregor are each facing disciplinary action from the NAC, and that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office has filed individual complaints against both men.
“Totally unacceptable,” Bennett told Helwani regarding the behavior of McGregor and Diaz at the final UFC 202 pre-fight press conference. “Not indicative of the way professional fighters should conduct themselves.”
Bennett continued, “It showed disrespect for press, fighters, UFC and the commission.”
The NAC has handed down fines as a result of press conference incidents in the past, as Jon Jones was fined $50,000 and Daniel Cormier was fined $9,000 — each being 10 percent of their purse for their first fight — following their infamous UFC media day brawl in Las Vegas.
As noted, Conor McGregor was paid a $3 million guaranteed purse for UFC 202, while Nate Diaz earned a reported salary of $2 million. If the same fine of 10 percent of the fighters reported purses is handed down in this scenario, McGregor would be looking at a $300,000 fine, while Diaz would owe the NAC a payment of $200,000, both of which is about what top fighters earn as their total purse for headlining big UFC events.
The next NAC meeting is scheduled to take place on September 29th, while a second NAC meeting has also been discussed for October 10th.
