Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has a busy meeting coming up that could impact the purses of several Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters.
The meeting, which is scheduled for next week (Tues., April 30, 2024), will address several recent fighter incidents from UFC events that recently took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the docket: a hearing on punishment over Igor Severino’s infamous bite disqualification from UFC Vegas 89; a hearing on withholding the purse of Arman Tsarukyan for punching a fan while walking to the cage at UFC 300; and a hearing on withholding the purse of Diego Lopes for jumping over the cage after his awesome win (watch highlights).
One of these things is not like the other!
It’s clear that Severino and Tsarukyan should be punished for their blatantly reprehensible behavior. You can’t let fighters bite each other in the cage, and fighters shouldn’t be trying to punch fans no matter how sensitive they are to being shown the middle finger.
But, Lopes merely climbed out of the cage after his first round knockout of Sodiq Yusuff to talk to UFC CEO, Dana White.
He didn’t jump into the crowd. He didn’t pull a Khabib and attack anyone. Climbing out of the cage is still illegal according to NSAC rules, though, and the commission may be looking to send a message that anyone doing it in “Sin City” will get dinged financially.
Here’s the relevant portions of the NSAC schedule for its upcoming meeting:
- Hearing on Extension of Temporary Suspension or in the alternative, Hearing on Proposed Adjudication Agreement, and Hearing on Withholding of Purse for mixed martial artist Igor Severino, for possible action
5 Hearing on Withholding of Purse for mixed martial artist Arman Tsarukian [sic], for possible action.
- Hearing on Withholding of Purse for mixed martial artist Diego Lopes Da Silva, for possible action.
The hearing was news to Lopes, who admitted via social media, “I’ve just been seeing that,” with a laughing sweat emoji. A later update from Nolan King said Lopes’ management and UFC were in touch with NSAC trying to work things out.
It’s interesting that only Severino is facing suspensions regarding his action. NSAC is going straight for Tsarukyan and Lopes’ purses, which feels a bit scummy to us. What Tsarukyan did was bad enough to earn a suspension, so why not one of those, too? Because they’re more interested in taking his money? Has it realized that a six- or nine-month suspension isn’t really a deterrent compared to taking a fighter’s pay?
[What’s next, a lawsuit?]