Pedro Munhoz facing punishments from NAC for UFC 235 post-fight celebration

UFC 235 took place at the beginning of this month and it was a massive event as expected. There were several fighters who added to their respective highlight reels and continued to climb up their divisional ladders. One of those was Brazil’s ‘Young Punisher’ Pedro Munhoz.

The 18-3 Munhoz would kick off the pay-per-view’s main card when he took on the former bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt.

After a technical first few minutes of the opening round, the two would start to throw down wildly towards the latter half. The end result leading to Garbrandt suffering his third consecutive knockout loss.

As one might expect, Munhoz was rather happy and excited with the biggest win of his career and as he went to celebrate, he would jump out of the cage. In hindsight, Munhoz’ wallet may end up regretting that natural burst of energy.

The Nevada Athletic Commission which hosted UFC 235 in Las Vegas is currently in the process of disciplining Munhoz (via MMA Fighting) for his post-fight actions as one one of their rules states the following: “An unarmed combatant shall not leave the ring or, if the contest or exhibition is being held in a fenced area, the fenced area, during any period of rest that follows a period of unarmed combat.”

NAC executive director Bob Bennett was asked about the situation and said it’s unrelated to what happened at the end of UFC 229 between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

“Our inspectors were specifically advised by me to make sure the fighters knew they were not authorized to jump out of the cage,” Bennett told MMA Fighting.

“The policy is in place to protect a fighter from injuring himself or herself or others in the area. It doesn’t have anything to do with the UFC 229 post-fight brawl involving Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.”

It remains to be determined as to whether or not Munhoz will get a fine and or suspension.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/22/2019