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A fan snuck into the Octagon during the UFC 229 brawl to check on Conor McGregor

chris cwik
Staff writer
·3 min read
Did a fan really check on Conor McGregor during the UFC 229 brawl? (AP Photo)
Did a fan really check on Conor McGregor during the UFC 229 brawl? (AP Photo)

Pandemonium broke out in the seconds following the Conor McGregor-Khabib Nurmagomedov fight at UFC 229. Moments after winning the fight, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the Octagon to brawl in the stands. As this was happening, a few members of his team jumped into the Octagon to attack McGregor.

Lost in all that confusion was a mysterious man in a white jacket who snuck into the Octagon. The man reportedly hopped into the Octagon during the brawl, checked on McGregor and then walked back to his seat.

How do we know this happened? Because Daniel Cormier saw it happen. He told Ariel Helwani of ESPN he saw the man go into the Octagon and talk to McGregor.

Cormier begins telling the story at the 13:58 mark:

Andy Nesbitt of For The Win transcribed Cormier’s story:

“This is the craziest story. There’s a guy behind me, he’s wearing this nice jacket. (Something) McGregor. So he’s standing behind me and he goes, ‘Who do you got in the fight?’ This guy’s completely not into the game, right? So I go, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna go Khabib.’ So after the fight, when we all jumped the rail, I’m like in the Octagon pushing, and the guy’s like checking on Conor. He was like a fan, he was just like a fan that jumped the rail when everyone else jumped the rail and got all the way to the Octagon – he was like checking on Conor. I

(later) asked my wife, “Salina, what happened with that guy, was he with McGregor?’ She goes, ‘Daniel, after he went and checked to make sure Conor was OK he just got back in his seat.’ I swear to God. He just climbed the rail and got back in his seat. I was like, ‘What in the world just happened!? What in the world just happened!?’ It was crazy. How did this dude end up in the Octagon, and then he checked to make sure Conor was OK and then he went back and sat down.”

A man by the name of David Martin claims to be the person in Cormier’s story. He posted video on social media that shows him supposedly running into the Octagon.

Martin also spoke to Nesbitt about that decision, though his story includes more details. He claims he also calmed Cormier down before talking to McGregor.

The details provided by Martin almost seem too crazy to believe. Did a fan actually talk down one MMA fighter and then sneak into a ring and talk to another before calmly walking back to his seat?

Normally, we would say there’s no way. But in this case, at least a portion of the story has been confirmed by Cormier. If only Cormier’s version of the story is true, the whole thing is still pretty wild.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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