Max Holloway, Paddy Pimblett, and Gable Steveson fined for jumping outside the octagon at UFC 329
Max Holloway, Paddy Pimblett, and Gable Steveson all faced fines after jumping out of the cage to celebrate at UFC 329 in July.
On Wednesday during the monthly meeting for the Nevada Athletic Commission, the three fighters were each fined $2,500 as punishment for leaping outside the cage after their respective fights were over. The fines were deducted from the fighters’ purses, which were withheld by the commission after the event.
There’s been an uprising amongst fighters after hearing about the potential penalties being handed down for jumping outside the cage to celebrate a victory.
But commissioners were adamant that the rule isn’t changing and fighters have to learn to abide by the law of the land when competing in Nevada. It turns out the rule was specifically made after Khabib Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage to attack members of Conor McGregor’s team after their fight ended at UFC 229 back in 2018.
On that night, Nurmagomedov secured a victory with a fourth-round rear-naked choke submission but he immediately jumped over the cage and engaged in a fight with one of McGregor’s teammates.
The melee exploded into the crowd with security and police scrambling to maintain order.
“A pretty rough night for all of us,” commissioner Anthony Marnell said during the meeting on Wednesday. “It just can’t happen anymore.”
Nevada Athletic Commission chairman Dallas Haun doubled down on that statement while explaining that the commission doesn’t want to hand down these kinds of penalties but what unfolded between Nurmagomedov and McGregor back in 2018 changed the rules for everybody.
“They’re jumping the cage to shake Dana [White]’s hand and we appreciate the difference,” Haun explaind. “Someone in the crowd behind Dana screaming something could change that in an instant.
“We’re not comfortable, we don’t like doing this is these instances, but for the safety of the crowd and having learned from UFC 229 in 2018, we feel very strongly about it.”
Ultimately, Holloway, Pimblett and Steveson paid the $2,500 fines, the purses withheld are released and none of them face any other penalties from the incident.
