Conor McGregor UFC 219 plans scrapped following 'unacceptable' behaviour at Bellator

The Irishman has not fought since his boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather

Conor McGregor will not be seen inside the Octagon again before 2018 after his actions at a Bellator event in Dublin on Friday night.

The UFC lightweight champion, who took a sabbatical from the UFC in order to face boxer Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas, jumped into the cage to celebrate stable-mate Charlie Ward’s win over John Redmond but was involved in an altercation with the referee.

Mark Goddard attempted to stop McGregor from celebrating inside the ring leading to ugly scenes where the Irishman pushed the referee up against the cage before being escorted out of the arena.

He was due to make his return to MMA by headlining UFC 219 in Las Vegas on December 30 but, as a result of the incident, those plans have been scrapped, the president of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, Mike Mazzulli, has complained.

McGregor was all set to face lightweight interim champion Tony Ferguson on the traditional end of year card, but Mazzulli has said it will no longer happen after a UFC official contracted him “within two hours of the Bellator event” to tell him it was off.

“They basically said to me that it's completely unacceptable in their eyes and that they will be doing something,” he said.

“They did inform me that he was set to be on the December 30 card and now he will not be on it. So I do commend the UFC to some extent for doing that.

“On the other hand, I will be looking at it and speaking to my attorneys upon returning to the United States to see if I have any action.”