Conor McGregor gives his take on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s decision to prohibit Deontay Wilder and Tyson from participating in another faceoff.
The boxing superstars are scheduled to lock horns this Saturday in Las Vegas for their highly-anticipated heavyweight title rematch that was 14 months in the making.
Fury and Wilder first fought in December 2018 in an instant classic, which ended in a controversial split draw.
Since that epic showdown, both heavyweight have won two tune up fights, with the American champ knocking out Dominic Breazeale and Luis Ortiz respectively while the Briton added Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin to his list of victims.
Ahead of their rematch, Fury and Wilder shoved and pushed each other in a heated faceoff last Wednesday, much to the dismay of the athletic commission.
Following the altercation, the NSAC has decided to ban the final staredown between the heavyweight pair this Friday at the official weigh ins.
Bad Image
In a recent interview with ESPN, NSAC executive director Bob Bennett explained why they made the unprecedented move.
“The reason the decision was made, on behalf of the commission, is because the press conference [Wednesday] spoke for itself,” he said.
“The actions of the two fighters pushing each other, which was not staged, is not indicative of the image of our sport as a major league sport, thus having a faceoff is not in the best interest in the health and safety of the fighters, the public and the event,”
“And, quite frankly, that image, where you have two professional athletes pushing each other where somebody could get hurt, is not keeping with the image of a major league sport and we’re a major league sport.”
“I’m not going to put the public or the fighters or the event in harm’s way because everybody is looking forward to a spectacular event. This decision is in the best interest of the fighters, the fans and the event.”
Unpredictable Events
Following the decision, UFC’s biggest draw, Conor McGregor took to social media and urged the commission to let Fury and Wilder have the final staredown.
“Guys, please relax here,” he wrote in a tweet.
“Vegas commission, you are one of thee best commissions, bar none, for impeccably handling events of unpredictability.”
“Place men between the men. Security on stage. Let them get one last look at each other. The last look before it’s really f*cking on.”
In October 2018, the Irish star was slapped with a lengthy suspension and hefty fine by NSAC for his involvement in the ugly post-fight brawl at the T-mobile Arena.
It looks like the athletic commission is doing the necessary steps to prevent such incident to happen again.
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Deontay Wilder and YouTube/ MMA Fighting)