UFC 279 press conference cancelled after “sh*t show” backstage
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Today’s UFC 279 press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada was abruptly cancelled after what the promotion’s president, Dana White, described as a “sh*t show” backstage.
According to White, Saturday’s event which is headlined by a welterweight bout between rising star Khamzat Chimaev and UFC fan favorite Nate Diaz, is not in jeopardy. The pre-fight presser however, did not go on as intended. Because of an incident that took place backstage, White said that fighters would come out in groups of two to address fans and media, not the normalcy of having all of the event’s major competitors appear on stage.
“S*** show – absolute s*** show back there,” White said regarding a pre-event incident that took place backstage. “Ask them questions. There’s lots of crazy s*** going on back there.”
The “ask them questions” statement that White made, referred to Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez, who were the only fighters on the stage at the time. Holland and Rodriguez will fight on Saturday, and were present for the pre-fight press conference, but were not joined by any other competitors on the card.
Eventually fans and media would learn that a massive brawl broke out backstage that allegedly was initiated by Holland and Chimaev, and then later included Diaz and both their camps.
Following questions from media, Holland and Rodriguez would leave the stage, but then no other competitors came out. A member of the UFC team then came on stage and said something to White off-microphone. White then waved his arms and said, “This ain’t going to happen. I apologize everybody. I am in very weird waters here. This has never happened in the history of this company.
“Trust me when I tell you this is the right decision not to do this press conference right now. For everybody’s safety, this is the right decision. I apologize. Thanks for coming.”
After the stage was cleared, White then spoke with media backstage.
“Multiple crazy – I don’t even know what to call it,” White told reporters. “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.
“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.”
Aside from having fighters who have been jawing at each other for months involved in the main event, White said a lack of security did not help the situation.
“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.”
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