Dennis Buzukja suspended 9 months for altercation with UFC fan
UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja learned his fate on Wednesday, two months after an altercation with a fan at UFC 310 in December.
The Nevada Athletic Commission handed the 27-year-old New Yorker a nine-month suspension along with a $2,500 fine and $157.04 in attorney fees.
The suspension could be reduced to a six-months if he completes approved community service in the state of Nevada.
The incident in December happened after former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, Buzukja’s teammate, had just finished fighting Movsar Evloev. Current champion Merab Dvalishvili, also a teammate of Buzukja, had gotten into a verbal altercation with the same fan when security arrived on the scene.
Buzukja approached the fan and appears to throw a punch. Dvalishvili later stated that the fan was connected to another UFC fighter, the man that he was set to defend his title against, Umar Nurmagomedov.
Merab Dvalishvili got into ANOTHER altercation with a fan after Aljamain Sterling’s loss at #UFC310 😬
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 8, 2024
“I went and approached him, and I just put his hand down, I was trying to deescalate and tell him, ‘Yo, calm down, bro. Relax,’” Buzukja said about the incident. “Merab was going away, I just wanted to tell him to relax, have some respect.
“Then he cracked me first, actually, he cracked me with a nice little left hook and then it was just instinct to hit him back. Then security came in, but part of me is like, ‘Should I just drop the bucket and just jump over and start swinging?’ Just go full, f*cking degenerate, but I’m glad it didn’t happen that way.”
Buzukja’s suspension runs through Sept. 6, 2025, but could be reduced to June 6, 2025.
