Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov avoid NSAC hearing with settlements

On Tuesday, January 29, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) is to hold a hearing for the likes of Conor McGregor, and UFC champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones.

However, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported, McGregor and Nurmagomedov will no longer be present at the hearing as they have reached settlement agreements with the NSAC in regards to their post-fight brawl at UFC 229 on October 6.

Disciplinary action has been delayed for the two on several different occasion prior to now. The settlements will be reviewed via the five-person NSAC panel who will make their votes tomorrow.

The report also states that Nurmagomedov’s teammates who were involved in the incident, UFC featherweight Zubaira Tukhugov and his Khabib’s cousin, PFL welterweight Abubakar Nurmagomedov, also reached settlements. The NSAC is expected to agree to all settlements.

This news comes the same day that UFC 229’s Las Vegas economic impact was revealed.

After originally being denied the entirety of his fight purse on fight night, Khabib Nurmagomedov has since received half of his full 2 million.

As for Jones who will be at the hearing tomorrow, he looks to be getting re-licensed in the state of Nevada.

Jones’ last fight came at UFC 232 which was supposed to take place in Las Vegas before it was moved due to the NSAC denying him of his license due to an ‘atypical finding‘ in one of his pre-fight drug tests. Thus leading to the event’s relocation to Los Angeles on just a week’s notice.

For Jones, this will be critical as his next fight is already scheduled for UFC 235 in Las Vegas on March 3 opposite Anthony Smith.

“We did not rush to a conclusion or an answer and that’s why we didn’t approve that fight here,” NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told the Review-Journal of why Jones wasn’t licensed prior to UFC 232. “We wanted to take our time and do the research. We obviously took a loss of money as far as the economic impact on the state based on doing the right thing in terms of determining all the facts of the situation.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/28/2019