In the hour leading up to yesterday’s UFC 189 weigh-ins in Las Vegas, Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber were caught on camera backstage getting into a minor physical altercation.
It appears to start as McGregor and Faber cross paths in a hallway behind the scenes at the arena. The footage starts with McGregor patting Faber on the head and calling him, “little man.”
McGregor starts to walk towards a nearby door, while Faber lightly holds him around the waist, laughing while asking, “hey, are you going to be alright?”, presumably in reference to the Irish fighters drawn-out appearance prior to the weigh-ins.
McGregor doesn’t take kindly to that and suddenly he looks to arm drag his fellow fighter and go for a double, but Faber counters and pushes him up against a nearby wall. McGregor pushes back and the break apart with ‘The Notorious’ saying, “get your hands off me or I’ll break your nose,” while Faber protests, “hey, I didn’t touch you.”
McGregor then quickly heads off through a nearby door while Faber walks off looking a little bemused by what just happened, but then turns back and smiles at the camera.
When asked about the incident after the weigh-ins McGregor said that, “It was nothing,” though he appeared to see the tussle in his favor, claiming that, “I arm dragged him into a double – I could have thrown him on his head right there and then.”
Naturally, Faber saw things differently, and wrote on Instagram, “Looks [like] Connor’s Jr high level wrestling hasn’t learned the drag re-drag drill yet. I’ve seen crack heads roaming the streets that look healthier than McGregor right now.”
Overall there wasn’t a whole lot in it, just some minor mind games between the two that boiled over just for a moment, thankfully without any real damage being done that would have landed them in trouble or jeopardize tonight’s fight in which McGregor goes up against Faber’s friend and teammate, Chad Mendes.
Watch the video for yourselves which also includes McGregor’s brief explanation.
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