UFC 322 turned into a showcase of violence on Saturday. Both inside and outside the Octagon.
Just as the main card pay-per-view was getting started, chaos erupted at the edge of the crowd with dozens of bodies — many of them security personnel — moving around. It took more than two minutes to restore order.
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As seen in video captured of the scene, some of the main combatants were Dillon Danis and members of Team Khabib, including recently signed UFC fighter Magomed Zaynukov and former UFC fighter Abubakar Nurmagomedov.
There’s some history between those two sides, as many MMA fans will recall. The main event of UFC 229 between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov ended with a surreal brawl, with Khabib going after Danis in McGregor’s corner while McGregor got into it with Abubakar.
That was more than seven years ago, but there’s clearly still some bad blood.
When asked about the incident at UFC 322’s post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White took accountability for putting the two rival parties in dangerously close proximities to one another.
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White also declared that Danis was banned from all future UFC events, stating unequivocally: “You will never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again.”
Said White:
“I blame myself for that actually. They came back and told me right before I walked out for the main card that Dillon Danis was here, and he was moving around sitting in fighters’ seats and not sitting in his own seat that he had. He had a ticket. And they said, ‘Do you want us to throw him out of here?’ And I said, ‘He has a ticket?’ And they said, ‘Yeah.’ And they told me, they said, ‘[Jorge] Masvidal said he’s going to f*** him up on sight.’ And I said, ‘Well, where’s Masvidal sitting?’ He said, ‘Well, he’s six or seven rows away from Masvidal.’ I said, ‘Well, if the guy has a ticket, let him sit in his seat and let him do what he’s doing, and keep an eye on him.’
It never even crossed my mind, as stupid as this could be, that the entire Muslim brotherhood was here tonight in the first five rows for Islam [Makhachev]. And as soon as it broke out, I was over on the other side and I go, ‘F***. I know exactly what that is.’ And I knew it. And yeah, you will never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again.
Tough scenes for the Misfits MMA champion Danis, who’s made no secret about wanting to one day fight for the UFC.