On the day that Conor McGregor was handed a hefty fine at the hands of the Nevada Athletic Commission for his involvement in the water bottle throwing incident at the UFC 202 Press Conference in August, the Dubliner was also subject to a strange rumour that gathered pace with very little substance.
Originally posted by the twitter handle @TalkMMA, which it must be said has been accurate on a number of early reported stories in recent memory such as the announcement of McGregor vs Alvarez at UFC 205, a "source" apparently claimed that Conor McGregor had been knocked out cold in sparring, and had even broken his nose..
I was told by someone close to SBG, McGregor was allegedly knocked out cold in sparring today; possible broken nose, shaky to his feet.
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) October 10, 2016
It sounded incredibly farfetched, mainly because John Kavanagh has spoken recently at how his camp was moving away from heavy sparring in the interest of his fighters' health, but the rumour grew legs, and even had some over-analysis of Insatgram posts thrown in for good measure:
This was posted in McGregor's IG about 2 hrs ago. Nose doesn't appear broken, however his facial expression is telling a massive story: pic.twitter.com/lpzndYZFqR
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) October 10, 2016
John Kavanagh was onto the rumours quickly, laughing them off and taking the piss out of those who reported the rumours as news:
Free tip - Just because its on the Internet doesn't mean its true ?
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) October 10, 2016
i want to believe pic.twitter.com/EBoKJr86wd
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) October 10, 2016
It quickly emerged that McGregor did not have a broken nose, and that he had not been knocked out in training, so the source that spoke to @TalkMMA down was on the wind-up, and the man behind the account apologised to McGregor and Kavanagh when he was informed of the innaccuracy:
I told you I wasn't making shit up. Someone else was. My apologies to @John_Kavanagh and @TheNotoriousMMA. I don't play games. https://t.co/EVC92gK53C
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) October 10, 2016
Kavanagh, in the mean-time, took exception to an article that was published on Independent.ie which featured the rumour as headline news, although it has been since modified to centre around McGregor's fine, which had not been disclosed at the time.
Not impressed.
Conor has since responded to the fine issued to him today, and it's safe to say he is the only man who could take a punishment and use it as a slight against his rivals.
I get fined more than these bums get paid
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 10, 2016
Well played.
