Khamzat Chimaev’s confrontation of Kevin Holland, which kickstarted the backstage chaos at the UFC 279 press conference.
During media day on Wednesday, Holland (23-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) said Chimaev only does “extra wannabe street sh*t” when the media is around. Clearly “Borz” didn’t take kindly to those comments, and according to his head coach Andreas Michael, Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) push kicked him in the chest.
The Allstars Training Center head honcho gave a vague description of what happened, but confirmed that no one was hurt during the altercation.
“What happened was, Khamzat went inside by himself, then it started with Kevin Holland,” Michael said on Instagram. “He gave him like a boot in the chest then they started whatever they’re doing, and then the Diaz crew came in and they started doing what they’re doing, but nobody got injured thank God.
“We’re here to fight in the cage, not in the streets, 50 (on) one types of things like that – sportsmen, that’s what we are, sportsmen. So let’s f*cking be sportsmen and stop all this sh*t. On Saturday we got a fight coming up and that’s the most important thing.”
It’s unclear what happened between Chimaev and Diaz (20-13 MMA, 15-11 UFC), but it was confirmed by UFC president Dana White that things got spilt over to both fighters’ camps, prompting the press conference to be canceled. Chimaev meets Diaz in Saturday’s UFC 279 main event and Holland competes on the same night when he takes on Daniel Rodriguez.
Although Holland and Chimaev compete in the same weight class, Michael brushed off “Big Mouth” as a potential opponent for Chimaev, who said both Holland and Diaz got what they deserved.
“Respect to everyone, we’re not here to fight anyone,” Michael added. “And no, Kevin is not gonna get a fight with Khamzat. Forget about that. … The same with Paulo (Costa), they’re not gonna get a fight. That’s about it. We’re gonna fight against the champs and the guys that are over us, not under us. Finished, it’s done. That’s how it is. We climb. We don’t regress, we progress.”
UFC 279 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
