UFC star Conor McGregor’s fine for Las Vegas pre-bout fracas reduced

Nevada athletic officials on Wednesday significantly reduced the penalty they imposed on UFC star Conor McGregor following a profanity-laced, bottle-throwing fracas with a rival during a pre-fight news conference last year in Las Vegas.

The Nevada Athletic Commission approved an agreement with McGregor that settled on a $25,000 fine, 25 hours of community service and a little over $1,000 for the state’s legal costs. The commission had previously penalised McGregor with 50 hours of community service and a $150,000 fine, of which half was meant to go toward an anti-bullying public service announcement.

“If you go out and look in all of sports for things that get thrown, the fines are not very high for whatever reason,” Marnell said after the hearing. “I think that we didn’t have any precedence to go on here ... Usually, when somebody comes before us with a doping violation, we have a lot of precedent for that. Throwing a Monster can and a water bottle at a press conference, that’s a first.”

McGregor arrived about half hour late to the August 17 press conference touting the highly anticipated fight, a rematch five months after a bout Diaz won by submission. As McGregor answered questions, Diaz stood up and left the stage. Diaz and McGregor and members of their groups yelled at each other and eventually began hurling water bottles at one other.