The UFC 279 pre-fight press conference was canceled moments after it began when Dana White pulled the plug on the event due to an altercation between fighters backstage.
“Shit show, absolute shit show there,” White said as soon as he took the stage. “Ask them questions. There’s a lot of crazy shit back there.”
The press conference began with just two fighters on the podium, as Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez answered a few questions from the media instead of the six athletes originally scheduled to appear on Thursday.
A source who spoke to MMA Fighting after the press conference was canceled said “chaos ensued,” but had no further details on what led to the incident.
White later told reporters backstage that it was an altercation between Holland and UFC 279 main event fighter Khamzat Chimaev that sparked the fire that erupted into a much larger incident between the athletes and the their behind-the-scenes camps.
Dana White says things got “very physical” between several wrestlers backstage. #UFC279
— Jose Youngs (@JoseYoungs) September 8, 2022
Dana White confirms that Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev were the catalyst for the #UFC279 backstage chaos
— Jose Youngs (@JoseYoungs) September 8, 2022
After Holland and Rodriguez clashed and left the stage, White spoke with members of his public relations staff along with security before deciding to end the press conference almost as quickly as it began.
“That’s not going to happen,” White told a disappointed crowd. “I apologize to everyone. I’m in very strange waters here. This has never happened in the history of this company.
“Trust me when I say that this is the right decision not to hold this press conference right now. For everyone’s safety, this is the right decision. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming.”
White later stated that the lack of backstage security allowed the volatile situation to fizzle out, something the UFC will remedy for the future. He added that the incident will not threaten the fights or the event taking place on Saturday night.
Dana White reiterates that “it was the right step” to cancel the press conference. It was granted for fan safety if the camps jumped over the barricade on the stage #UFC279
— Jose Youngs (@JoseYoungs) September 8, 2022