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'.
McGregor has since broken his silence on the whole ordeal and insisted the incident was 'all a skit'.
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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."
McGregor is set to star in the upcoming Road House movie with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as Elwood Dalton alongside him.
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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