Roughly four days after he lost it on a ref during a fight in Ireland where he was (initially) only a spectator, UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor has offered up an apology, which you can read right here:
As you can see, the apologizing part doesn't list referee Marc Goddard (or spell his name right when he was mentioned for making a "horrendous decision") but he does say "all the officials and staff working the event," so that's probably about as good as it's going to get.
As for the part where he said "after witnessing my fighter in a fight where the worst happened and the opponent passed away from his injuries on the night," that is a reference to an incident that occurred in 2016, when welterweight Joao Carvalho died after losing by TKO to Charlie Ward (who's the same fighter McGregor was celebrating with on Friday).
This seemingly more sincere apology comes about 24 hours after McGregor posted a message to social media singing a much different tune. "Bloke KO'd on floor bout a minute straight and ref trying to say fight not over Conor. That's when I lost it. F--- yous all," that statement said. it was quickly deleted.
As for Goddard, he had already released his own written statement where he said that he was going to call off the fight, but that it was delayed by the chaos the came about after McGregor entered the ring. "Once I know that I had stepped across and in between the fighters at 4:59, then the fight is officially over and there is no going back," Goddard said on Facebook.
"At this point, it was categorically clear to me that John Redmond was indeed in no state to continue and the rightful winner was Charlie Ward. Had I been allowed to make my determination without the interference of unauthorized persons in the cage in the first place, then the ensuing melee would have indeed not occurred and normal protocol could have ensued."
Goddard further added that he was verbally threatened by McGregor, but that was of "no concern."
Additionally, the Mohegan Tribe Department of Regulation (who oversaw the event) called the encounter an "assault" but has yet to formally punish McGregor. As for the UFC, they are yet to comment on the situation. McGregor last fought in one of their events just over a year ago when he KO'd Eddy Alvarez to become a multidivisional champ.
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