‘Royal Rumble’ – Fighters react to backstage melee, cancelled UFC 279 press-conference

The UFC 279 pre-fight press conference was cancelled because of multiple altercations backstage that security couldn’t control. Dana White said that supposedly, a hundred…

By: Anton Tabuena | 9 months ago
‘Royal Rumble’ – Fighters react to backstage melee, cancelled UFC 279 press-conference
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

The UFC 279 pre-fight press conference was cancelled because of multiple altercations backstage that security couldn’t control. Dana White said that supposedly, a hundred people were in the melee, with slaps, kicks, and water bottles involved.

“Yeah this ain’t gonna happen. I apologize, everybody. I’m in very weird waters here, this has never happened in the history of this company,” White said about the cancellation. “Trust me when I tell you, this is the right decision not to do this press conference right now. For everybody’s safety this is the right decision. I apologize. Thanks for coming.”

This all led to the UFC’s typical press-conference highlight clip to be hilariously short:

With all that chaos, it of course led to a lot of chatter and reactions on social media. Here are some of the fighters’ tweets about the melee and the subsequent cancellation of the press conference:


UPDATE:



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About the author
Anton Tabuena
Anton Tabuena

Anton Tabuena is the Managing Editor for Bloody Elbow. He’s been covering MMA and combat sports since 2009, and has also fought in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing.

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