Conor McGregor has finally broken his silence after sending a Miami Heat mascot to hospital by 'ko'ing' him.
The UFC legend hopped across the pond to the States to visit the Miami Heat v Denver Nuggets game last Friday (9 June) but no one was ready for the somewhat unexpected sparring between McGregor and an unlikely fighting partner.
As part of a promotional gimmick, he was taken onto the court for a mid-game bit where Burnie, the Miami Heat mascot, appeared wearing golden gloves and it didn't take long for it to all take a turn for the worse. Have a look:
What was initially meant to just be a bit of light-hearted ringside fun soon appeared to turn into something a bit more serious for the mascot when McGregor threw a left hook to his head, leaving him sprawled out on the court.
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And it didn't stop there.
The fighter then landed Burnie a second punch to the face before spraying him with his own pain relief spray.
Ouch.
Burnie was soon dragged away by members of the Heat in-game entertainment crew who fanned his face with a white towel.
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While it may have appeared to be a rehearsed affair, it seems things got a tad out of hand when the person inside the Burnie suit was allegedly taken to hospital.
According to The Athletic, a league source who was briefed on the event confirmed that the man was taken to the emergency room at a nearby hospital to receive treatment.
After being given pain medication by an attending doctor, he was sent home to rest and is said to be 'doing well'.
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McGregor has since broken his silence on the whole ordeal and insisted the incident was 'all a skit'.
Speaking on Live with Kelly and Mark on Wednesday (14 June), the fighting champion claimed: "That was part of the skit, it was all a skit. We were backstage, all was well, it was just part of the show.
"The mascot’s good [...] It was a skit, and it went the way it went, and all is well. I spent a lot of time with him afterwards, we hugged it out, and everything was great."
He continued: "It blew up. I recently made my acting debut, you know? I’m not a bad actor."
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McGregor is set to star in the upcoming Road House movie with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as Elwood Dalton alongside him.
The upcoming flick has been labeled as a 'reimagining' of the cult-classic 1989 film of the same name.
Road House is set to be released by Amazon Studios.
Topics: Conor McGregor, Celebrity, UFC, US News, NBA, Basketball, Boxing
Rhiannon Ingle