Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov agree to settlements ahead of disciplinary hearing
The Nevada State Athletic Commission’s meeting on Tuesday just got a lot less eventful.
Rather than have Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov argue their cases for a lesser punishment from their roles in the brawl that stained UFC 229, the two fighters will instead only have the terms of their negotiated discipline approved. The pair each agreed to a settlement with the NSAC that is expected to be approved before a five-member panel Tuesday, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov settle with Nevada commission
The terms of McGregor and Nurmagomedov’s settlements are presently unknown, but they likely won’t be only getting a slap on the wrist. The NSAC is still holding onto half of Nurmagomedov’s $1 million purse from the fight.
Settlements with a pair of Nurmagomedov associates that got into a scuffle with McGregor, Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov, were also reportedly arranged.
The hearing figures to be the final chapter, for now, of a fairly embarrassing story for the UFC. Not uncoincidentally, the promotion happened to release its rosy economic assessment of UFC 229 on the same day news of the settlement broke:
The UFC just sent out a press release stating that UFC 229 @TeamKhabib vs. @TheNotoriousMMA generated $86.4 million in economic impact for the Las Vegas metropolitan area. pic.twitter.com/72RvVhmDj6
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) January 28, 2019
Jon Jones also scheduled to make appearance at hearing
With McGregor and Nurmagomedov’s event now merely a formality, the focus of Tuesday’s hearing will likely be the curious case of Jon Jones’ positive drug test.
Jones had been scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson in Las Vegas last month at UFC 232, but a positive test for a minute amount of turinabol, an anabolic steroid that Jones tested positive for earlier in his career, forced the event to be moved to Los Angeles after the NSAC refused to license him because there wasn’t enough time for a hearing.
Despite the chaos, Jones prevailed over Gustafsson and reclaimed his light heavyweight title. Now, Jones will get the NSAC hearing over the positive test that the UFC didn’t have time for last month. Given that the consensus of experts is the positive test must have been caused by an old usage of turinabol, it’s unlikely Jones will see punishment.
Dana White is certainly hoping the NSAC opts not to discipline Jones, as the champ is already scheduled to defend his title against Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on March 2.
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