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Conor McGregor criticizes MayMac referee: ‘I knew I wasn’t going to get a fair shake’
GLASGOW –Conor McGregor criticized referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage of his bout with Floyd Mayweather immediately after his defeat to the undefeated boxer.
On Friday night in Glasgow he went further, lambasting Byrd’s action during the fight, immediately before the fight and even the company the Hall of Fame referee keeps outside of the ring.
The UFC lightweight champion only was made aware that the referee was married to controversial judge Adalaide Bird, who was suspending following her scoring of the Gennady Golovkin versus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight.
“Adalaide Byrd’s husband Robert Byrd, that’s all I’ll say on that,” McGregor replied when Caroline Pearce asked him how he felt about the 10th-round stoppage in the Mayweather fight. “That’s her husband.”
He continued, explaining his feeling on the initial face off with Mayweather before the fight, in which Byrd had to give both competitors a rundown of the rules. He also criticized the referee’s physicality when separating in the two fighters in the clinch.
“When we came face to face and we were doing the rules thing, he was only staring at me. I’m looking at him staring at me and I could see in my peripheral vision that he was looking at me and not looking at Floyd,” he said.
“I was going to say, ‘He’s fighting as well, mate. Give him the f**king rules. I don’t know, what was going on there?
“Every time we tied he literally wrestled me off him. It is what it is, I knew I wasn’t going to get a fair shake out there.”
Considering the stoppage, McGregor remarked that Byrd had jumped in “at the first sign of a wobble”.
“I thought it was an early stoppage. How the f**k can you stop a fight if there were no knockdowns or nothing previous?” he asked.
GLASGOW –Conor McGregor criticized referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage of his bout with Floyd Mayweather immediately after his defeat to the undefeated boxer.
On Friday night in Glasgow he went further, lambasting Byrd’s action during the fight, immediately before the fight and even the company the Hall of Fame referee keeps outside of the ring.
The UFC lightweight champion only was made aware that the referee was married to controversial judge Adalaide Bird, who was suspending following her scoring of the Gennady Golovkin versus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight.
“Adalaide Byrd’s husband Robert Byrd, that’s all I’ll say on that,” McGregor replied when Caroline Pearce asked him how he felt about the 10th-round stoppage in the Mayweather fight. “That’s her husband.”
He continued, explaining his feeling on the initial face off with Mayweather before the fight, in which Byrd had to give both competitors a rundown of the rules. He also criticized the referee’s physicality when separating in the two fighters in the clinch.
“When we came face to face and we were doing the rules thing, he was only staring at me. I’m looking at him staring at me and I could see in my peripheral vision that he was looking at me and not looking at Floyd,” he said.
“I was going to say, ‘He’s fighting as well, mate. Give him the f**king rules. I don’t know, what was going on there?
“Every time we tied he literally wrestled me off him. It is what it is, I knew I wasn’t going to get a fair shake out there.”
Considering the stoppage, McGregor remarked that Byrd had jumped in “at the first sign of a wobble”.
“I thought it was an early stoppage. How the f**k can you stop a fight if there were no knockdowns or nothing previous?” he asked.