Combat Sports Law

In 2014 the NSAC levied steep fines for a press conference brawl between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones.  Today the NSAC kept in line with this precedent when dealing with Conor McGregor for throwing bottles into the crowd at a UFC 202 press conference.

In short the NSAC hit McGregor with a $150,000 fine, 50 hours of community service along with compelling McGregor to appear in an anti-bullying Public Service Announcement which the NSAC will be able to use.  The legal justification for the imposition of sanctions was that throwing objects into a crowd created risk of public injury and this behavior violates NAC 467.886 which prohibits “any activity that will bring disrepute to unarmed combat“.

Perhaps to the surprise of McGregor’s legal team, the commission went well above the $25,000 fine and 25 hours of community service that the Nevada Attorney General was seeking. After hearing this position McGregor’s legal team essentially abandoned all defenses and admitted guilt assuming the prosecution’s recommendation would be a worst case scenario.  No such luck.

This case, coupled with the previous Cormier and Jones affair, show that the NSAC is comfortable taking a percentage of a show purse as punishment for press conference violence regardless of how high the purse is.  Jones and Cormier were fined 10% of their respective purses and the McGregor fine represents 5% of his purse.  The lesser percentage was justified in face of McGregor abandoning defenses at the hearing coupled with the time he will have to sacrifice to meet the 50 hour community service requirement.