Conor McGregor pushes referee, slaps MMA official after crashing Bellator fight

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has sparked a huge controversy after involving in an angry altercation with a referee at an MMA event in Dublin.

The 29-year-old was attending a fight at the Bellator 187 event in the Irish capital wherein his team-mate mate Charlie Ward was taking on John Redmond.

After Ward won the first-round knock out, McGregor jumped into the boxing ring to celebrate with his SBG Ireland teammate, reports TMZ.

As McGregor was not permitted to step in the octagon since he was not a licensed corner man for Ward, several fight officials stepped in to interrupt their post-fight celebration.

The interruption prompted McGregor to engage in an altercation as he himself came back and retaliated by pushing veteran UFC referee Marc Goddard for breaking up his celebration before the officials and BFF Artem Lobov escorted him from the cage.

McGregor did not stop there and returned to the top of the cage and straight slapped one of the officials upside the head.

McGregor, who was beaten by American boxing star Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match in August, has not fought in the UFC since stopping Eddie Alvarez to clinch the 155lb title in November last year.