UFC superstar Conor McGregor says he has mended fences with Burnie, the Miami Heat mascot, after sending him to the emergency room in a skit gone wrong, The New York Post reports.
McGregor made headlines last weekend when he sent Burnie to the hospital with a scripted punch during Game 4 of the NBA Finals, but insists that there are no hard feelings.
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“It was a skit and all is well,” McGregor said Tuesday, according to TMZ. “I spent a lot of time with him afterward, we talked it out, everything is great. It was all part of the show.”
McGregor was doing a midgame promotion for his brand TIDL, a spray that is supposed to relieve pain.
The advertisement was to jokingly hurt Burnie during a staged physical altercation between the former two-division UFC champion and the mascot, after which McGregor would spray him with his pain relief spray for him to heal.
But it seemed McGregor got a bit carried away during the fight, sending Burnie to the ground with a single strike that appeared to legitimately land.
The spray didn’t exactly work wonders for the mascot, though, as he was forced into the emergency room where they gave him actual pain medication.
It is unclear whether McGregor will be welcomed back to the Kaseya Center after the incident, but Heat coach Erik Spolestra didn’t seem too upset.
“That’s the Miami Heat toughness that we’re talking about,” Spoelstra said while smiling before Game 5. “[Burnie] should have been allowed to take the first swing.”
“He can take a punch and get back up,” Spolestra continued, adding that if Game 6 were to come to fruition, Burnie would be out there for Miami.
“He’s not going to miss any time.”
The Heat went on to lose Game 5, so Burnie missed out on a hero’s welcome back at home in Game 6.
McGregor is slated to fight a real fighter, Michael Chandler, sometime this fall, after the two are done coaching in the current season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
This article was originally published in The New York Post and was reproduced with permission.