Former UFC champion Conor McGregor took a promotion at heart and smacked the Miami Heat mascot, Burnie. Consequently, the man in the Burnie costume lay flat on the floor and needed immediate medical attention. All this aggression for the NBA finals promotion? Unreasonable, to be precise. 

The mid-game knockout went horribly wrong when the man who occupied Burine's costume had to seek brief treatment on Friday, June 9, 2023. The Heat Mascot suffered two forceful punches from McGregor during a third-quarter stoppage of Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and the Denver Nuggets. A video posted on SportsCenter's Twitter account garnered 3.9 million views, over 8K likes and thousands of comments. The employee remained unidentified but the poor bloke received pain medications from the medics and had to rest at home. We hope the anonymous man recovers soon. 

Apparently, McGregor was present there for a promotional gimmick of a pain relief spray. In the video, McGregor was all pumped up to throw the punch of his life and was consistently booed by many from the Miami audience before it all started. He had the bottle of spray in his hand. We don't know why he had to "prove" his power for a trivial promotional stunt. The flame mascot appeared for the 'fight' in oversized golden yellow gloves and a red robe, akin to what a fighter generally wears before going inside the ring for a fight. The Heat mascot looked prepared but only from the outside. LOL!

McGregor cornered the mascot and threw a violent punch before it could stretch its hand in defense. With one smack, the Heat mascot fell on the floor, unprepared for a second, more brutal punch. The next blow hit Burnie hard and there, the fight was over. The promotion continued as McGregor sprayed a few spritzes out of the pain relief product onto the heat mascot while several members of the in-game promotional team dragged Burnie off the court. We must admit Burnie tried but unfortunately got injured instead. 

Twitterati had a gala time watching the video. Some sided with Burnie, others praised McGregor's punching skills and few found the video more "entertaining than the actual NBA finals." Let's find out what netizens felt. A Twitter user, @RutledgeDuRant commented, "I understand a 4-year-old doing this but Conor McGregor?" A second user, @GetWetSports joked, "That mascot had nudes of his wife or something because that 2nd shot was anger for no reason." A third, @ClaxFanatic declared, "More interesting than the finals." Well, we second that. Haha!  

Some social media users failed to find humor. @RMaq28 said, "You're laughing but the dude went to the ER." @MakeTexasBlue22 affirmed, "I don't see the humor in this at all. Looked like an assault to me." @SpectralxYT felt sorry for Burnie and advised, "Bro, there was no need for that 2nd punch while he was on the ground." McGregor hasn’t fought since injuring his left leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. His last win came in January 2020.