‘Maverick’ is Demanding All of Conor McGregor’s Money… He Believes He Lost the Opportunity of His Life After He Was Injured at UFC 223 Last April…
The fallout from the infamous bus attack incident at UFC 229 continues to rumble on. On that fateful night in Brooklyn in April, Conor McGregor and a gang of Irish thugs arrived in New York’s JFK airport by private jet. As Georges St. Pierre would say, they were “intoxicated.”
They would then make their way to Brooklyn’s Barclay Center where a week of chaos had already begun. Tony Ferguson was out of his title fight against Khabib Nurmagamedov. Then his replacement Max Holloway was forced to stop a weight cut. Another lightweight contender was in with a chance to fight ‘The Eagle.’
Ultimately Al Iaquinta would get the most unlikely shot against Khabib. However, both Anthony Pettis and Paul Felder were both preferred by the UFC, but obstacles prevented them from getting a deal done with either fighter. Now Michael Chiesa, who was injured when McGregor and his cronies stormed the arena is claiming he was done out of a title fight.
Legal Challenge
UFC 223 was thrown into disarray after McGregor’s attack on a bus carrying numerous fighters back to their hotel after performing media duties. Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa both suffered lacerations and cuts from broken glass, forcing the UFC to pull their fights from the card. Artem Lobov’s matchup with Alex Caceres was also scrapped because of the Russian GOAT’s involvement on the night.
McGregor would spend the night in a Brooklyn precinct cell. It was one of the most shameful nights in the history of the UFC, so naturally the footage was used in promotional videos for the fight between ‘The Notorious’ and Khabib Nurmagamedov.
Opportunity of a Lifetime
Chiesa is citing New York’s Son of Sam law, which states that persons convicted of a crime can’t profit commercially because of their crimes. As a result, he wants McGregor’s earnings from his fight with Khabib. ‘Maverick’ told TMZ:
“My court case is about losing a title fight. I literally had a golden opportunity ripped out from me because of McGregor.”
Chiesa has never been very popular with fans, and it remains to be seen whether or not his claims will stack up in a court. His argument might come back to haunt him.
Really?
The problem that Chiesa is going to face is twofold. The first is that McGregor was convicted by the court and given his sentence. The UFC pragmatically didn’t book a fight for the Irishman until after his punishment was resolved, so technically anything that happened in his career after this point is totally unrelated.
Secondly, Chiesa’s claim that he missed out on a title shot lacks credibility. He was coming into that fight against Pettis on the back of a defeat to Kevin Lee. The UFC rarely hands out title shots to fighters who have just lost. They were prepared to hand a shot to Pettis because he is a former champion, however, negotiations fell apart.
Meanwhile, their other replacement options, Felder and Iaquinta, were both riding solid win streaks. It’s highly unlikely that if Chiesa was booked to fight Khabib that he would have been able to fight for the title. Anyway, it’s nonsense because since returning – in a rebooked fight with Pettis – he missed weight and lost again. McGregor might be a self-obsessed idiot at times, but Chiesa needs to get his own house in order.
