MIAMI – Dana White won’t allow the media to stir trouble between fighters who aren’t scheduled to meet.
During the UFC 287 press conference, multiple reporters were shut down by the UFC president when they asked about the altercations between Kevin Holland and Jorge Masvidal.
With Masvidal already scheduled to fight Gilbert Burns and Holland matched up with Santiago Ponzinibbio in Saturday’s event at Kaseya Center in Miami, White wanted the focus on the actual fights taking place and blamed the media for trying to further instigate trouble.
“Well, the reason why I don’t want you guys talking about other fights is, guys, we’re f*cking two days before a fight. (Holland’s) not fighting Jorge Masvidal,” White told reporters at the UFC 287 post-fight press conference. “Whatever they got into, whatever – first of all, it creates sh*t backstage and at the hotels, right? When you guys ask them questions like that and they say something, we’ve still got two days until the fight and these guys run into each other backstage and everywhere else, and it’s so disrespectful to their opponent.
“There’s an opponent sitting up there that they’re going to fight, and I just hate that sh*t. I get it – you want your f*cking clicks or whatever it is you guys want to get, your little f*cking moment that you can post. But I will f*cking attack you if you do that, you know what I mean? It just causes a lot of bullsh*t backstage and at the hotel. It’s like the time the stuff went down with (Nate) Diaz and all those guys, Khamzat (Chimaev). These guys have 20, 30 guys backstage. That sh* just can’t happen here, and you guys can’t instigate it.”
Holland knocked out Ponzinibbio in Round 3. Masvidal hung up his gloves after a decision loss to Burns in the co-headliner.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
