Was The McGregor Weigh-In Scuffle Staged? Urijah Faber Explains

Conor McGregor had more than one fight caught on camera last weekend. While most people are focusing on the bout that saw him down Chad Mendes to become the interim featherweight champion - others are looking at the scuffle that occured at the weigh-in.

Conor McGregor got into what would be described as a schemozzle were it to have taken place on the GAA pitch whilst trying to enter a bathroom. That this incident was caught on camera backstage lead some to think it was part of the well-oiled UFC hype machine, and it was staged. It certainly makes the next season of the Ultimate Fighter with McGregor and Faber as opposing coaches that much more tantalising.

Not so, says Urijah Faber. The man who clashed with McGregor is a teammate of Chad Mendes, spoke to MMA Fighting to dispel any notion that he had any prior knowledge of anything happening:

It does look like it was rigged. I was thinking the same thing. It was super weird in general, but it is what it is.

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Faber's story of what actually happened makes things seem like it's just an unfortunate series of events starting with a long queue to the solitary men's toilet. Faber had the idea of using the vacant women's stall. Unfortunately McGregor had similar ideas, leading to the stand-off outside:

I'm walking out he's walking and we're nose to nose. It was super random, wasn't in anyone's locker room or anything like that, we were just in a hallway and it so happens that we get face to face, and the guy looks like he was gonna die, it was crazy.

He's like, ‘what's up little man' and he rubs my head and I grabbed his stomach and was feeling his ribs, his scrawny little rib," Faber said. "And I was like ‘man, are you gonna survive?' I don't know what he's thinking, he went, like an armdrag to a double, I mean, he was doing a move and I just had the instinct to turn back do a little wrestling, so I redrag hold both his arms because I don't know what he's thinking. So I hold both his arms against the wall, I don't know if he's going to use his chin or what's in his head, he goes "get your f------ hands off me," I'm like, dude, I don't have my hands on you, motherf------.'

So there you have it. While it wasn't originally a staged incident, given people are still talking about it after the event that was UFC 189, would you put it past the PR machine to think... "Hey, we COULD stage one of these "fights"...".

You heard it here first.

[MMA Fighting]