“We’ll Protect Khamzat Chimaev, They’ll protect Nate Diaz” Darren Till details his experience during UFC 279 Backstage Brawl
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Chimaev and Diaz's entourage got into a backstage brawl that threatened the entire event,
Darren Till doesn’t think much of the brawl that took place between his and Khamzat Chiamev’s team and that of Nate Diaz. The two camps were separated as best as they could be throughout fight week but being in close proximity for the press conference led to some flames that fumed the already high tensions.
The brawl allegedly involved upwards of a 100 people that included memebers of the Diaz and Chimaev crew. Although it may seem that it was some conflict between Diaz and Chimaev that led to the start of the said brawl, it was actually Kevin Holland who started it. It ultimately ended up with water bottles being thrown between each camps, a staple of Diaz fight weeks.
However Till doesn’t feel the scuffle particularly threatened anyone of the event itself. While he was conflicted about if the press conference should’ve been cancelled he was certain that no fights were in risk of being cancelled because of the brawl.
Darren Till vows to not leave Khamzat Chimaev’s side throughout Nate Diaz fight week
Shortly after the fight, the MacLife team caught up with Till in his hotel room. There he detailed on how things transpired from his vantage point. According to Till, evryone who was primarily involved in the brawl was alone and did not have a team along with them, i.e. Khamzat and Kevin Holland. Diaz was not in the building up to that point.
Till, Guram Kuteladze and other memebes of Chimaev’s entourage were outside, sitting among the audience when it all happen, and only found out about it when Dana announced that the press conference was to be cancelled. At this point all of them jumped the barricades and went over backstage to check on their teammate.
Also Read: “Till Knocked out by a Bottle” Pros react to Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 279 backstage fight
When they reached, they saw that Holland and Chimaev had been restrained with former fighter Tiki Goshn taking center stage in the operation. It was at this point that the Diaz entourage showed up and an all out brawl broke out in the confusion. While he didn’t suffer any injuries Till was surprised by the amount of fake accounts claiming that he had been knocked out due to a bottle hitting him .
Till promised that he would be by Chimaev’s side until fight week is over to avoid any further scenarios of the sort. He emphasized that an order by the UFC to avoid bringing entourages won’t stop him either. You can watch him talk further about the incident in the video below.
“I said to the UFC, like tomorrow, me and the team, we’re just not leaving Khamzat’s side, it’s just like that” , said Darren when he was asked about a possible ruling by the UFC restricting teammates at the ceremonial weigh ins. “Its’ team vs Team, nothing else, We’ll always protect Khamzat and they’ll always protect Nate”, said Darren summarizing his thoughts on the situation
What are your thoughts on the brawl? Who are you rooting for this weekend? let us know!
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)