Former two-division champion Conor Mcgregor’s UFC 223 bus rampage was the talk of the town for several weeks and continue. The MMA community was certainly not pleased with Irishman’s brash behavior that led several fighters received injuries.
One prominent sports figure and UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten believes MMA fans should get off McGregor’s back.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Rutten who came to Mcgregor’s defense, believes the criticism Irishman has received is completely justified but fans should give ‘The Notorious’ a pass:(Quotes via BloodyElbow)
“We are not in Conor McGregor’s shoes. You know? People can shout what they want, they have no clue what goes on,” Rutten said. “I think once people realize that you have 50 million dollars – he gets mail all day long from people with sick babies and sick kids and my grandma and everybody wants him to give money and so on.”
“I mean, he doesn’t only have money, he is super famous on top of that. I know the stupid stuff I did when I was 28 – I didn’t do that, okay, but you know, he has a group around him and he was already angry going in because they wanted to strip him of the title and he’s angry and now the partner, his friends, start saying, ‘hey, maybe we should throw something against them’. Like, ‘yeah,’ everybody starts agreeing. Yeah, you get caught up in the whole moment and you start doing it.”
Rutten says Conor McGregor’s meteoric rise to fame and fortune has happened so quickly it can be hard to acclimate to the sudden change in his life. It’s a situation Bas says he would have struggled with during his heyday, too. Moreover, he is coming off cashing a career payday against Floyd Mayweather is certainly riding high. But does that mean he should go any stance like his recent antics at UFC 223 media day? Bas agree that he should receive a penalty for this, but what he has done for the sport of MMA as a whole, for that reason fans should go easy on him.
“That’s why I said when I was with Joe Rogan, I said, guys, we should give him a pass. And people online, they were like, is he crazy? I’m not saying that (you excuse everything),” Rutten explained. “I’m saying, yes, he’s going to have to pay for what he did, he goes to court, he has to do all that. I’m not saying that (he doesn’t do those things). Of course, he has to – and I said that on Joe Rogan as well – but give him a pass as a fan. Don’t kick the guy while he’s down. Don’t throw him under the bus. He did so much good for MMA. He just needs to find his way in this world.”
“I hope they just … give him a pass, don’t spit him out yet,” he added. “Let him see if he cleans up. I mean, you give Jon Jones a lot of passes. And me too, I love Jon Jones, I want to see him back. He’s such a talent that is gone and I want to see him fight. This could be a guy that could literally go undefeated his entire life. So yeah, I would love to see a guy like that back.”
Irishman’s return to Octagon is currently in the air as he is facing assault charges and due back in court on June 14th
Do you agree with Bas Rutten’s remarks on Mcgregor? Its understood that its hard to look past that incidence since Irishman is making headlines for all the wrong reasons outside the Octagon.
