UFC shares footage of the unpredictable series of events that led to the UFC 279 press conference cancellation

The UFC has shared footage of the unpredictable series of events that resulted in the cancellation of the UFC 279 press conference.

Thursday’s presser was cancelled prematurely after “all hell broke loose” backstage, this according to UFC President Dana White.

“Yeah, this ain’t gonna happen, I apologize, everybody, I am in very weird waters here. This has never happened in the history of the company. Trust me when I tell you, this was the right decision not to do this press conference right now. (Crowd boos) I hear ya, I’m with ya but for everybody’s safety this is the right decision, alright, I apologize. Thanks for coming,” White said to the crowd who attended the UFC 279 press conference.

The incident, which caused the press conference to be abruptly cancelled, occurred moments after Kevin Holland and his originally slated opponent Daniel Rodriguez exited the stage for other fighters to come on.

According to MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani, ‘Borz’ kicked ‘Trailblazer’ in the chest due to some previous comments made by the self proclaimed “Big Mouth”.

“Khamzat Chimaev push kicked Holland in the chest. Chimaev was reacting to things Holland has said recently and it set him off, I’m told. Once that was broken up the Chimaev-Diaz part of the story popped off and then the bottles started flying.” – Helwani reported on Twitter.

After Nate Diaz and his team entered the fray, things apparently got worse as bottles started flying with former UFC fighter Tiki Ghosn taking a couple to the head.

On Saturday afternoon, the Ultimate Fighting Championship released footage of some of the chaos that took place backstage.

As seen in the video below, tempers were flaring when Chimaev and Holland crossed paths and things only escalated once Team Diaz entered the fray.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1568691806275276800

The UFC 279 fight card endured a major makeover on Friday afternoon, this after Khamzat Chimaev brutally missed the welterweight limit of 171lbs.

With that, the new pay-per-view lineup is as follows:

Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson – Welterweight main event

Khamzat Chimaev vs Kevin Holland – 180lbs Catchweight co-main event

Daniel Rodriguez vs. Li Jingliang – Catchweight fight

What do you think of the footage from Thursday’s backstage fighter altercations at the UFC 279 presser? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!