Sitting to watch the rest of the fights in the arena isn’t a luxury afforded to some fighters, according to one UFC hopeful, who joins a collection of fighters to reveal that the UFC kicks them out after competing.
Former ONE Championship double-champion Reinier de Ridder submitted Kevin Holland on the main card of UFC 311 in January. Despite appearing on the pay-per-view portion of the card, de Ridder alleges that the UFC had him leave the arena after fulfilling media obligations, and he watched the rest of the fights at a burger joint.
MMA fans agree that fighters should be able to stay in the arena to watch the fights after competing.
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Reinier de Ridder reveals he had to leave UFC 311 after securing first-round finish on PPV main card
Speaking to Eurosport, de Ridder revealed he had to leave the arena despite winning the opening bout on the UFC 311 main card. ‘The Dutch Knight’ was okay with having to go and cited backstage altercations as the reason the UFC got fighters to leave after fighting.
“[We couldn’t stay in the stadium], no, no,” de Ridder told Eurosport. “All media done, first behind the scenes, and then we went on, had a bite to eat and watched in the meantime [at In-N-Out]. . . . You have to go [to leave the arena]. I think they had a few fights behind the scenes. So [they would rather you leave], but that’s fine too.” [h/t translation Bloody Elbow]
It’s safe to say MMA fans were displeased with the news.
“Classy stuff from a 10 billion dollar organization,” One Reddit user wrote.
Other users agreed, “[…] Can’t they make a room with some TVs, beer and wings, s*** probably costs max $1,000.”
“Two big dressing rooms with a TV in the corner would be fine,” Another contributed. “Every other show seems to manage it.”
“[de Ridder] exposing both ONE and UFC in a few weeks,” One user commented, referring to de Ridder advising fighters to avoid ONE Championship.
“The UFC treats their fighters like scum,” Another wrote.
No time to shower as Payton Talbott discusses UFC booting him from arena after winning fight
Also on UFC 311 was bantamweight hopeful Payton Talbott, who had a similar experience to de Ridder after winning his fight at UFC 303 by a 20-second knockout. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Talbott revealed he didn’t have time to shower before being escorted out.
“No, they kick you out!” Talbott exclaimed that he couldn’t watch the main event after fighting. “They’re like, ‘Do you have a ticket?’ And I was like, ‘I just fought.’ And they’re like, ‘No exceptions, man.’ I was like, ‘Are you joking?!’
“Yeah, they wouldn’t let me back in. They got rid of it [the fighter green room] with Covid. … As soon as you’re done with your media, you’re out,” Talbott put it bluntly. “Nope [no opportunity to shower], I took one when I got home [at the AirBnb]. No, I didn’t even know there were showers there.”
The same happened with UFC fan-favorite Johnny Walker, who was filmed still wearing his UFC fight gear on the Las Vegas strip. Walker was booted from UFC 279 after submitting Ion Cutelaba in the main card opener.
“I didn’t take my gloves off!” Walker exclaimed in the video.
“So [the UFC] just came and kicked us out,” Wrote coach John Kavanagh. “No tickets for us and not allowed to stay backstage to watch. Pulled out back door, kicked out, don’t even have shoes on.”