The Miami Heat have taken it on the chin this week after losing the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets and also watching their mascot Burnie go down in a heap courtesy of UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
The latter incident was obviously a planned skit during Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Miami, which saw McGregor come out onto the court and threw a couple of shots at the Miami Heat mascot. Unfortunately, afterward reports indicated that the person inside the mascot suit actually suffered a real injury that required a trip to a local hospital.
McGregor addressed the incident in two separate interviews with TMZ and Live with Kelly and Mark, where he once again reiterated that nothing happened that wasn’t planned and claimed he even caught up with the mascot backstage following the mid-game interaction.
“The mascot’s good,” McGregor said. “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. It was a skit, it was part of the show.
“We were backstage, all is well, it was part of the show. It blew up. I recently made my acting debut. I’m not a bad actor.”
Neither the Miami Heat nor the person in the mascot costume have commented about the reported injuries suffered from the planned skit. Miami Heat public relations representatives did not respond for comment when reached by MMA Fighting on Wednesday.
Outside of his appearance in Miami during the NBA playoffs, McGregor is currently in New York promoting the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, where he serves as coach alongside Michael Chandler, who he is expected to face in his return to action.
While his focus remains on the reality show and his eventual return to the UFC, McGregor was also keeping a watchful eye on the recent boxing exhibition which saw former opponent Floyd Mayweather engage in a sideshow spectacle with John Gotti III.
Mayweather was cruising in the fight when referee Kenny Bayless made the decision to disqualify Gotti — an order Gotti ignored as he continued pursuing the former multi-division champion across the ring. That led to a massive brawl breaking out between Mayweather and Gotti’s teams.
Gotti was handed a six-month suspension by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation as a result of his actions.
As for McGregor, he already said he had Gotti’s back in this ongoing vendetta, but more importantly he just didn’t think much of Mayweather’s performance as the boxer continues to engage in a series of lopsided exhibition bouts since retiring from his professional career.
“I wasn’t that impressed [with Mayweather], to be honest with you,” McGregor told TMZ. “We’ll have a go up if he wants. I don’t know where he’s at. There’s no meaning behind it. He’s just here and there, there’s no meaning behind the bouts. There’s nothing to it.
“I enjoyed the brawl afterwards more than I did the actual bout.”
Of course, McGregor fell to Mayweather by 10th-round TKO in their boxing match back in 2017. Since that time, McGregor has been champing at the bit for a rematch, although with Mayweather only focusing on these bizarre exhibitions, it seems unlikely to happen.
