An incident occurred involving members of Conor McGregor’s entourage and security personnel during Anthony Joshua’s recent event on Saturday night.
UFC legend Conor McGregor traveled to London to witness Anthony Joshua’s impactful knockout victory over Robert Helenius at The O2 Arena. McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout was among the event’s sponsors, and he made his way to his seat accompanied by his own ring girls, both dressed in attire to promote his beverage.
Shortly after McGregor settled into his seat, a confrontation unfolded between members of his team and security staff from Matchroom Boxing. A certain level of confusion emerged regarding who was authorized to sit ringside with McGregor. The former two-weight world champion was joined by female boxer Ebanie Bridges, in addition to his ring girls.
In order to prevent unauthorized individuals from joining McGregor ringside, security took extra measures. However, this led to an unintentional situation where McGregor’s long-standing boxing associate, Phil Sutcliffe, was inadvertently left behind, unable to reach his designated seat beside McGregor.
After some initial commotion, the situation was resolved as cooler heads prevailed. Sutcliffe and other members of McGregor’s group were eventually able to take their seats.
The clash between Conor McGregor’s team and Matchroom Boxing security caused a brief disruption. Certain members of McGregor’s entourage were inadvertently held back during the incident.
Reflecting on the situation, Eddie Hearn, the head of Matchroom Boxing, commented, “I’m not aware, I know earlier on the night I saw something but nothing major. I think obviously when you travel in big numbers… our security is doing a job to make sure certain people get ringside but I don’t believe it was anything of any note. I haven’t heard anything from the team but obviously we’ll have a de-brief on Sunday.”
The altercation briefly delayed the ring entrance of Gerald Washington for his fight against Derek Chisora. Despite the interruption, Washington eventually made his entrance, but he was ultimately defeated by Chisora’s decision.
McGregor observed the evening’s events closely from his ringside seat, showing particular interest in the chief support and main event. He expressed his contentment at seeing Joshua secure his second consecutive victory.
In McGregor’s words, “Greatness don’t rush. Joshua took his time, he landed a big heavy shot, I’m just happy Helenius got up. The fans should be grateful for the Finnish coming in, last minute replacement, no fear he gave a great performance, did himself proud and his team and I’m happy to see him get up. Big congrats to AJ, big congrats to Eddie, big congrats Forged Irish Stout.”