LAS VEGAS – “Let me just start out by saying I’m not going to tell everybody what went on back here.”
Dana White kicked off an impromptu media availability Thursday at MGM Grand Garden Arena with those words – spoken moments after the UFC 279 pre-fight news conference was abruptly canceled for “everybody’s safety.”
“Multiple crazy – I don’t even know what to call it,” White told reporters including MMA Junkie. “However many years, 22 years, however long I’ve been doing this, we’ve never had an incident like today. All hell broke loose out here. I don’t even know how to (say it). We stopped it, but we didn’t do a good job of not letting happen. I just don’t know.
White described the scene as “very physical” with “lots going on” backstage which is why he ultimately decided to call off the press event mid-session. Objects were allegedly thrown.
Initially, the plan shifted from bringing all six fighters out at once to bringing them out in pairs. However, after Holland and Rodriguez answered a few questions from media, White decided to shut the whole thing down because altercations reignited backstage.
“We figured two-by-two would work,” White said. “We were wrong.”
White said four fighters total were involved and confirmed tweets from MMA reporter Ariel Helwani that Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev were first to engage before a domino effect of exchanges with other fighters.
Holland and Chimaev have had run-ins in the past at the UFC Performance Institute and a fighter hotel, between numerous insults hurled at news conferences and interviews.
Somehow, the Diaz camp was involved, as well. Diaz, who showed up with a crowd of approximately 25 people to media day Wednesday, rolled in with a similar crowd Thursday. The sheer amount of people backstage made for a tricky situation, he explained.
“The Diaz camp showed up with 57 people. 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 reiterated the fights scheduled for UFC 279 are not currently in jeopardy and that he expects an added security presence for tomorrow’s ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs.
“We come here with a skeleton crew for the press conferences,” White said. “There aren’t nearly as many people as there are for the ceremonial weigh-ins. We’ll have tons of security, Metro, it’s a totally different ball game.
“… This will never happen again.”
UFC 279 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNEWS and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
