McGregor teammate ‘escorted by armed guard’ following controversial stoppage in Russia

Conor McGregor teammate Peter Queally claims he received armed protection and was moved from his hotel in the wake of a first-round finish scandal at the Fight Nights Global 87 main event.

Peter ‘The Showstopper’ Queally lived up to his nickname in the featured bout on the Fight Nights Global 87 card at the KSK Express arena in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday night.

Queally stopped his highly-touted Armenian opponent David Khachatryan with strikes on the ground after dropping him with a straight right hand with around a minute remaining in the first round. 

Referee Jan Vobornik’s decision to end the bout sparked protests from many fans in attendance, some of whom threw plastic bottles and other items into the cage as the official decision was being read out, in protest at what they saw to be an early stoppage.

Adbulmanap Nurmagomedov, father and coach of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, was struck in the head by one of the projectiles, after which he spoke on a microphone to compel the audience to calm down.

“Let’s all show respect to the fighters,” said Nurmagomedov senior, trying to quell the angry crowd.

Following the win, which is comfortably the biggest victory of the Irish fighter’s career, Queally said via Twitter that he was being “escorted by armed guard” and moving to a different hotel.

The situation adds to the animosity from some sections of Russian mixed martial arts towards fighters from the SBG Ireland team, due to the rivalry between Queally’s friend and training partner Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

In April, McGregor was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, for attacking a bus containing Nurmagomedov and several other fighters on the eve of a UFC event. The attack happened after Nurmagomedov confronted another of McGregor’s friends, Artem Lobov, who insulted the Russian fighter in one of his interviews.