With the fights right around the corner and the event already kicked off, Khamzat Chimaev gets into an argument with Kevin Holland and both fighters start an all out brawl. Shortly after they are joined by Nate and his entire crew. With a total number of around 80 people engaged in the riot.
Dana Cancels UFC 279 Pre-Fight Press Conference
Here’s what Dana White had to say
“The Diaz camp showed up with 57 people,” White explained. “Khamzat’s team had 30-something people. Then you had multiple guys going on back here. It was crazy. It was absolutely nuts back here… You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where this whole press conference was headed.”
“White later revealed four of the six fighters due to speak at the press conference were involved. “All hell broke loose,” he said after the incident. “We stopped it, but we didn’t do a good job of not letting it happen.
“Yeah [it was Khamzat Chimaev and Kevin Holland that started it]. There were multiple things going on at the same time. It wasn’t just one thing that erupted and it happened. There were multiple things going on at the same time.
“So there was security over there, there was no security over there. There was no security over there cause everybody was dealing with the other thing and once it all started erupting, it was just a complete s*** show.”
“This is what we do,” he added. “This is the business that we’re in. Thiss is the fight business. These things happen. What we’ll do is we look at how this happened today, why were we unprepared for this, why we were not able to manage this backstage better than we did, and we’ll be better next time.
“When you know that you have guys that don’t like each other, you make sure that they’re isolated, you have plenty of security around. You know how Nate and Khamzat are, they could have some words and we have enough people here to deal with it.
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“What we didn’t have enough people for was everybody to start fighting. When everybody starts fighting and there was more than just fighting going on that security was dealing with. We weren’t prepared.”
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1568706833434673152?ref_src=twsrc{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}5Etfw{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}7Ctwcamp{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}5Etweetembed{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}7Ctwterm{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}5E1568706833434673152{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}7Ctwgr{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}5Ecf42bedc3a2ac22c2d8c5b5809eac8fe2f52d34b{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}7Ctwcon{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}5Es1_&ref_url=https{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}3A{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}2F{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}2Fmmajunkie.usatoday.com{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}2F2022{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}2F09{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9}2Fufc-279-video-khamzat-chimaev-kevin-holland-scuffle-nate-diaz-throws-object-at-news-conference
Other Backstage moments
Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson took the stage while Dana white was backstage dealing with the chaos.
Meanwhile Darren Till was also caught speaking to Kevin Holland and trying to de-escalate the situation with Kevin Holland:
Khamzat Chimaev:
Had this to say after the altercation;
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Twitter reactions:
Kevin Holland
Just so everyone knows. I offered that clown a free beard trim. I don’t know anywhere in the US that would offer that service free! I am precise I promise I would not knick him. At your service just like the hotel staff bro. https://t.co/Hiwwm40fg7
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) September 9, 2022
That’s weird I didn’t feel a thing ??♂️@UFCStatsBot please update this as a failed attempt via Chimaev. https://t.co/mjX8Koqaak
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) September 9, 2022
Kevin Holland describes the difference between Khamzat Chimaev's on-camera and off-camera persona ?
?https://t.co/kS6bRpnCwz#UFC #MMA | @ufc pic.twitter.com/AV7gXJhMoN
— Sportskeeda MMA (@sportskeedaMMA) September 8, 2022
Ariel Helwani
Here’s the full story regarding why the UFC 279 press conference was canceled before it started. pic.twitter.com/adIIQfKFXW
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 9, 2022
This is heartbreaking pic.twitter.com/uzWGBwBrlm
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 9, 2022
General sentiment seems to be that it could have been MUCH worse but was also a very ugly scene, if that makes sense. Much worse in that people could have gotten seriously hurt. Luckily, not hearing anyone was seriously hurt at this time.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 9, 2022
Darren Till
LiJingLiang the night before the press conference ? pic.twitter.com/2ulL8ImNUz
— D (@darrentill2) September 9, 2022
— D (@darrentill2) September 9, 2022
