The UFC was set to promote this weekend’s fight on Thursday night at the UFC 279 press conference. However, Dana White was forced to cancel the event nearly half an hour after it was supposed to begin.
As the press conference was delayed, White came out and said all hell broke loose backstage, and instead of a usual press conference they would bring fighters out in pairs. After Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez had their presser, White came back up after talking to security. He said for everyone’s safety he had to cancel the event.
Darren Till Provides Insight to UFC 279 Press Conference Fight
According to reports, Khamzat Chimaev and Holland got into it, followed by Nate Diaz’s team being a part of it. Although the details are still murky, Darren Till who is a part of Chimaev’s team gave some details as to what happened.
“It was just normal,” Till said to The Mac Life (h/t MMAFighting).
“I don’t know if I’m just saying that because we’re fighters ’cause we just fight all the time. So, we’ve been separated all week, the teams, there’s about 30 of us and I think there’s about 50 of them. There’s big teams. So, we come in, six of us each. I think Nate had six guys come for the press and us six waiting backstage. Then when we come out they’re like, ‘Go and sit down inside.’ But Khamzat was on his own so I was like, ‘Is he alright on his own?’ And I looked at Kevin and Kevin was on his own so everyone was on their own, I didn’t know where Nate was.
We went to our side, they were at their side. They was all standing up so I was standing up with a few of the guys and the security had been following us around like, ‘Till, sit down.’ I was like, ‘No, they’re standing up, I want to stand up.’ They’re like, ‘But you’re looking at them and they’re looking at you, something’s gonna happen.’ Nothing’s really gonna happen, is it? So he’s like, ‘Till, please. Sit down.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll sit down but when Khamzat comes out for the press conference, we’re all standing up. I want you to know that.’ He says fine.”
Did Dana White Embellish the Press Conference Fight?
The way White described the incident was “a complete s**t show”, but Till says it wasn’t like that. Instead, he says it wasn’t all that bad, but that is what is going to happen when you have multiple fighters from the streets near each other.
“I think people on the outside just build it up a little more than it is,” Till said.
“It just is what it is. 100 million percent [a big fight could have kicked off]. Alls I know is … Diaz’s team’s over there, like 57 of them, and we’re over there, 35 of us or something. Let me tell you one thing, most of them are fighters and most of us are fighters. All this s*** like how I’m this, I’m that … Most of us come from the streets and most of them do. That’s what we’re used to doing. If we’re getting close, things are gonna get said. Someone’s gonna be looking at someone and say who’re you looking at? Then we’re all gonna fight. That’s what’s gonna happen.”
