“Flying SOLO”- Ariel Helwani shares an INTRIGUING detail about Khamzat Chimaev at the Press conference
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Ariel Helwani and Khamzat Chimaev
After a brawl broke out backstage that involved more than 100 people, Ariel Helwani shared an interesting detail about Khamzat Chimaev‘s arrival at the UFC Press conference. The brawl led to the unprecedented cancellation of the UFC 279 Press conference.
According to multiple sources, initially, Chimaev and his team started a verbal back and forth with fellow welterweight fighter Kevin Holland backstage. The altercation also involved momentarily physical altercations among them. The altercation would’ve turned into a full-scale fight if not for the former UFC welterweight and longtime athlete manager and coach Tiki Ghosn. He separated both the fighters and avoided any physical altercations.
Ultimately after the arrival of Diaz’s team, they had their own verbal spars with Chimaev’s team. Per sources, Diaz was talking to Tiki Ghosn who was standing with Chimaev’s team. Water bottles were reported to have been thrown between such a large number of men. Due to the presence of such a huge crowd, the minimal security staff wasn’t able to control the crisis.
Although, The press conference and subsequent face-offs got cancelled for the first time in the company’s history to avoid any further altercations among fighters. Kevin Holland and his opponent Daniel Rodriguez were present during the press conference and did take in a few questions from the media. UFC President was appalled by the situation and tried to get things under control but ultimately he decided to cancel the press conference to avoid any possible altercations before the fight.
Related: “Wannabe street sh*t” Kevin Holland EXPOSES Khamzat Chimaev during UFC 279 media scrum
As per Ariel Helwani, Khamzat Chimaev was definitely outnumbered backstage
Following the press conference cancellation, the UFC President addressed the media about what happened backstage. White detailed that the Diaz camp showed up with 57 people and Khamzat’s team had 30-something people. With minimal security at the arena, the UFC President decided to cancel the event in order to avoid any serious complications. He also stated that the UFC will prepare in the future to control such a huge number of people.
White further admitted that the promotion was not ready to handle such a huge amount of crowd at the event. According to him, they expect these altercations to happen during the ceremonial weigh-in day and have appropriate security at the venue then. He further guaranteed the remaining fight week traditions will continue as per plan with added security this time.
Following the cancellation, a lot of videos and statements started flying on the social media landscape. The reaction from fans also started pouring in on the altercation. Although the details and timeline of the event are still fuzzy. MMA Journalist recently shared an interesting detail about Chimaev’s arrival backstage during the press conference. He wrote, “Per sources close to Chimaev, he was flying solo backstage. Not sure what the ratio was but he was definitely outnumbered, FWIW.”
The most amount of information regarding the altercation has also come to light through Helwani. Through his many contacts, he managed to get a considerable amount of detail on what actually happened. Per sources, the whole sequence of events conspired right behind the curtains of the main stage for the press conference.
The UFC President has later clarified that no fighters were injured during the altercation and the fight card and events will go as planned only with more security after the press conference fiasco.
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Abhijit Singh
(125 Articles Published)