Conor McGregor involved in physical altercation with Machine Gun Kelly at MTV Awards

Conor McGregor and Machine Gun Kelly had to be separated on the red carpet after an altercation occurred at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday in New York.

Photos surfaced of the incident that showed the former two-division UFC champion McGregor and musician Kelly (real name Colson Baker) being separated by security after reportedly nearly coming to blows.

A video was then posted that showed McGregor and Kelly standing across from each other before it appears the Irish superstar made a move towards the Cleveland, Ohio native, which then forced security to rush into stop them before an actual brawl broke out. Kelly’s girlfriend Megan Fox was quickly pulled out of the melee as event officials attempted to calm the situation down.

According to a report from TMZ, the altercation started after McGregor allegedly asked Kelly for a photo, which was denied. That somehow escalated into Kelly apparently pushing McGregor, which made the ex-UFC champion stumble backward while spilling his drink.

That’s when McGregor allegedly threw his drink at Kelly, which only escalated the situation further as security attempted to keep the two celebrities apart.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ ViacomCBS

Once cooler heads prevailed, Kelly and Fox were both seen walking the red carpet together before entering the building. Kelly is slated to perform alongside Travis Barker during the broadcast.

As for McGregor, he was eventually handed back his walking cane, which he was using while still recovering from a broken leg suffered in his fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July. McGregor was accompanied by his longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin, and despite the altercation, both were seen in the audience once the show actually started.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/MTV VMAs 2021/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS

A spokesperson for McGregor issued a statement to MMA Fighting following the incident at the Barclays Center in New York.

“Conor McGregor did not ask anyone for a picture, nor did he instigate this incident,” McGregor’s spokesperson said. “He does not know Machine Gun Kelly, outside of the fact that he attended Conor’s fight this past July.”

Since suffering the injury in July, McGregor has resided in Los Angeles doing rehabilitation on his leg after his surgery was performed at nearby Cedars-Sinai hospital.

UPDATE: McGregor also addressed the incident during an interview with Entertainment Tonight where he denied even knowing Machine Gun Kelly before the incident occurred.

“Nothing happened with me, I only fight real fighters. People that actually fight,” McGregor said. “I certainly don’t fight little Vanilla Ice white rappers. I don’t even know the guy. I don’t know anything about him, except that he’s with Megan Fox.”