22-year-old Ahmed Abdirzak has spoken out in the media giving his side about what happened in the early hours of Monday morning in Miami that led to Conor McGregor being arrested for smashing his phone and then walking away with it in his pocket.
A restaurant manager from London, Abdirzak happened to be partying at the Miami club LIV on the same night that the UFC superstar was also in attendance alongside other VIP guests.
“Everyone told me that LIV is the place to be. The place is really high-end, the music was insane,” Abdirzak told the Daily Mail.
“We saw loads of celebrities. The big US rapper Blueface was performing live. We had a fantastic evening. There was no trouble inside. There was a lot of A-list celebrities there. Conor was probably the lowest there, nobody was showing him any love. The only reason I was looking at him was because I was from the United kingdom and he’s big there.”
Abdirzak then came into contact with McGregor as they left the club in the early hours of the morning.
“My friend spotted him on the way out and shouted to him ‘McGregor, McGregor, we’ve come all the way from London. He turned to him and gave him a salute. I said ‘Man dem McGregor’ [a London street expression of friendship and appreciation] and he repeated it word for word, mocking me.
“It seemed good-natured at that point though, he seemed friendly. I wasn’t insulting him or antagonizing him at all. I don’t drink, I’ve never touched alcohol in my life. I’ve never done drugs. I was completely sober.”
Abdirzak says McGregor began singing the Blueface song Thotiana and so he took his mobile phone out to video him, at which point ‘The Notorious’ moved towards him.
“He reached out his left hand to greet me, to shake my hand. But then he held my arm so I couldn’t get away. His grip was insane. I could tell he was a professional athlete. I thought he’s going to hit me. I was shocked.
“I looked into his face and his eyes were bulging. He was so angry. I don’t know whether he was drunk or on drugs, but he looked f***ked. I just remained passive, I didn’t want to fight. Then with his right hand he punched the phone. It was so hard I felt the impact through my entire body.”
The phone shattered and before Abdirzak could pick it up McGregor got to it and threw it to the ground again.
“He stamped on it four times. He then picked it up and put it in his jeans. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He did his swagger dance and headed to his black SUV with his entourage surrounding him.
“I was asking them, “Can I get my phone back? I tried to run after him and asked for it back but he just laughed.”
Abdirzak is now looking for McGregor to receive an appropriate punishment for his latest brush with the law and has suggested that he should be banned from travelling to the United States.
“I’ve got friends in the UK who have done really minor crimes and they aren’t even allowed to come to America. They can’t get visas.
“How is it that this man, a guy with history of arrests and violence can just come in and out whenever he likes – all because he’s a big name celebrity.
“He’s a dangerous thug, very dangerous. He lives up to his name – notorious. He thinks the normal rules don’t apply to him.”
