UFC 279 is scheduled to take place from the T-Mobile arena in Paradise, Nevada this Saturday. The fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz will be headlining the event.
Yesterday, Dana White hosted a press conference for UFC 279 pay-per-view. During the conference, Security informed Dana that there was a backstage huge brawl broke out between multiple fighters. Then, Dana decided to cancel the press conference.
After the incident, Ariel Helwani reported what happened backstage during the UFC 279 pre-fight press conference.
“Early word is Khamzat Chimaev and Kevin Holland initially got into it and the whole situation got out of hand. Then situation spilled over to Nate’s team. Lots of chaos.
Total chaos, I’m told. Not enough security. Fighters too close. Could have been much worse but it got out of hand quick between multiple camps.
Khamzat Chimaev push kicked Holland in the chest. Chimaev was reacting to things Holland has said recently and it set him off, I’m told. Once that was broken up the Chimaev-Diaz part of the story popped off and then the bottles started flying.
Total chaos, I’m told. Not enough security. Fighters too close. Could have been much worse but it got out of hand quick between multiple camps.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 8, 2022
Water bottles, too.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 9, 2022
Ariel Helwani clarified the entire situation in a video on Twitter.
General sentiment seems to be that it could have been MUCH worse but was also a very ugly scene, if that makes sense. Much worse in that people could have gotten seriously hurt. Luckily, not hearing anyone was seriously hurt at this time.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 9, 2022
Fight Card for UFC 279
Main Card – 10pm ET/7pm PT
- Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz (Welterweight bout)
- Li Jingliang vs. Tony Ferguson (Welterweight bout)
- Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez (Catchweight – 180 lb)
- Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson (Women’s Bantamweight bout)
- Johnny Walker vs. Ion Cuțelaba (Light Heavyweight bout)
Preliminary Card – 8pm ET/5pm PT
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Julian Erosa (Featherweight bout)
- Jailton Almeida vs. Anton Turkalj (Catchweight – 220 lb)
- Denis Tiuliulin vs. Jamie Pickett (Middleweight bout)
- Jake Collier vs. Chris Barnett (Heavyweight bout)
Early preliminary Card – 6pm ET/3pm PT
- Norma Dumont vs. Danyelle Wolf (Women’s Featherweight bout)
- Chad Anheliger vs. Alateng Heili (Bantamweight bout)
- Melissa Martinez vs. Elise Reed (Women’s Strawweight bout)
- Darian Weeks vs. Yohan Lainesse (Welterweight bout)
We will update you when we receive more details. Stay tuned with The Spotlight.