Astonishing video of MMA weigh-in surfaces; McGregor rival will ‘haunt his f***ing dreams’

CONOR McGregor’s coach has led a chorus of abuse aimed at a “criminal” piece of footage from a Japanese MMA promotion.

This was hard to watch.

THE MMA world offers a weird, wonderful spectrum of freakish acts and brutal beatings to satisfy even the most blood-thirsty of sports fans.

This weekend we saw flyweight king Demetrious Johnson almost snap off title contender Ray Borg’s arm in one of the most chilling submissions ever seen inside an Octagon.

But the horror of the Mighty Mouse shanking his opponent into a fit of pain didn’t come close to this astonishing piece of footage from Japan’s Pancrase 290 weigh-ins.

Brazilian fighter Daniel Lima shocked viewers as he was helped to the scales in a near-unconscious state 24 hours before his bout with Daichi Kitakata.

The 37-year-old was barely able to stand as he approached the scales and missed weight by two pounds.

The horrifying spectacle wasn’t enough to shock promoters into pulling the fight, as they allowed Lima to take centre stage the following day. He lost via decision to Kitakata but assured he was healthy enough to fight.

“Since it was my first time outside of Brazil and I had no experience, I thought it would be easy. It was tough, painful,” he said after the loss.

“I was weak due to the extreme weight cut, but I was really fine (and) 100 per cent for the fight.”

John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor’s head coach, led a chorus of abuse directed at Lima’s team, coach and the Pancrase promotion for allowing the fighter to undertake such a dangerous weight cut.

Let me say it again and clearly. SHAME on his team SHAME on his coach and SHAME on the promotion. You are all a DISGRACE to our sport. https://t.co/GEMFmMd2hM

— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) October 9, 2017

That is genuinely disturbing.

— Sarah-Jane Murphy (@sjanemurf) October 9, 2017

Oh my god. That's criminal.

— Jeff Wagenheim (@jeffwagenheim) October 10, 2017

‘I WILL HAUNT YOUR F***ING DREAMS, KID’

Can Tony Ferguson bring down Conor?

Lightweight star Tony Ferguson destroyed Kevin Lee at UFC 216 to take the promotion’s interim title — and now there’s only one thing on his mind.

The 33-year-old wants to take champion Conor McGregor’s belt from his hands, calling out the Irishman in his post-fight speech on Sunday (AEDT).

Calls for McGregor to complete his trilogy with Nate Diaz have been flying around like wildfire, but a promising move from president Dana White means fans could be seeing the official lightweight championship bout sooner than expected.

“I mean, if Dana says it, then we’re going to hold it to him,” Ferguson told The MMA Hour.

“The UFC is pretty good with that, right? They don’t want to be called liars, and I don’t want to make them a liar, so this s*** needs to happen.”

Ferguson says there’s an obvious reason McGregor, 29, has kept his mouth shut since the weekend.

“Look, Conor watches the fights,” he said. “This dude didn’t say s***. He didn’t say s*** on Twitter. He didn’t even comment saying ‘good fight.’ He said he was looking forward to watching this fight — he hasn’t said nothing. The boy is scared.

“He’s running. I told him to just set the belt down and walk away and nobody will get hurt. That’s all you’ve got to do: just set it down and you won’t get your ass kicked, I swear, by another Mexican.”

Ferguson is adamant his skills in the Octagon are better than the champion’s and said fans have waited far too long to see McGregor back in the UFC after his fight against Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match.

“Conor needs his ass kicked and we need to unify that belt. Otherwise he needs to vacate, set it down, walk away, and never f***ing come back,” Ferguson said. “Because if you go to 170 (pounds), if you go to 185, or even if you drop to 145, I will f***ing follow you, Conor, and I will haunt your f***ing dreams, kid — I will come after you.”