NAC To Fine Biters, Brawlers And Diego Lopez?!

The Nevada Athletic Commission will meet to discuss fining Tsarukyan for punching a fan and Lopes for climbing out of the cage at UFC 300.

The Nevada Athletic Commission has a busy meeting coming up that could impact the purses of several UFC fighters.

The Tuesday April 30th meeting will address several recent incidents at Las Vegas UFC events involving fighters. On the docket: a hearing on punishment over Igor Severino’s infamous bite DQ from UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas, 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.

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 Diego Lopes merely climbed out of the cage after his first round KO 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 NAC rules, though, and the commission may be looking to send a message that anyone doing it in Las Vegas will get dinged financially.

Here’s the relevant portions of the Nevada Athletic Commission schedule for their April 30th meeting:

4. 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.

6. Hearing on Withholding of Purse for mixed martial artist Diego Lopes Da Silva, for possible action.

The hearing was news to Lopes, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to say “I’ve just been seeing that,” with a laughing sweat emoji. A later update from MMA Junkie’s Nolan King said Lopes’ management and the UFC were in touch with the NAC trying to work things out.

It’s interesting that only Igor Severino is facing suspensions regarding his action. The NAC 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? Have they realized that a six or nine month suspension isn’t really a deterrent compared to taking a fighter’s pay?

Let us know what you think about the NAC’s latest actions in the comments below, Maniacs!