UFC boss Dana White has blamed himself for the huge crowd brawl that broke out inside Madison Square Garden at UFC 322, stressing that while he had been warned Dillon Danis was causing angst “it never crossed my mind that the entire Muslim Brotherhood was here”.
In fact, White stressed he had initially been told there may only be a drama between Danis, the controversial Misfits star, and former BMF champion Jorge Masvidal, who was also present after publicly vowing to “f*** him up on sight”.
In crazy scenes which occurred shortly before the pay-per-view portion of UFC 322 kicked off inside MSG, a huge brawl broke out between Danis and members of Islam Makhachev’s support crew.
Incredibly, the melee kicked off within metres of Jack Della Maddalena’s family – including mum, Sonya, and wife Michelle – who were sat front row awaiting his world title fight against Makhachev.
While it was impossible to determine exactly what happened – or how the fracas started – it appeared as if the Misfits MMA champion was throwing down with members of Team Makhachev, whose man throws down against JDM in the main event.
A barricade right in front of the UFC welterweight champ’s mum was knocked over as warring fighters crashed through it and onto the MSG concrete floor as beers, chairs and petrified fans scattered.
Ex-UFC fighter Abubakar Nurmagomedov was among those involved in the brawl with security dragging him away.
Islam smothers JDM to seal the win | 00:42
UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell also rushed from his seat cageside and was instrumental in trying to calm down the ugly situation.
After fighters crashed through a barricade, dozens of security rushed in as the action then spilled over into the media tables where at least one stadium security staffer was clocked.
Danis was also subsequently detained by security and could be heard repeatedly telling them “I didn’t do anything”.
Certainly, Danis is no stranger to drama at UFC events, with Khabib Nurmagomedov having leapt over the cage and gone after him following his famous 2018 submission win over Conor McGregor.
The infamous incident followed a war of words between the camps with Danis serving as one of McGregor’s primary training partners and grappling coach leading into the fight.
Asked afterwards about the brawl that saw barricades dropped, beers flying, a chair lifted as a weapon and dozens of security rushing in, White said: “I blame myself for that actually.
“They [UFC staff] came back and told me right before I walked out for the main card that Dillon Danis was here and that he was moving around and sitting in fighter’s seats and not sitting in his own seat.
“They said ‘do you want us to throw him out of here?’.
“I said ‘he has a ticket?’ And they said ‘yeah’.
“They also said ‘[Jorge] Masvidal says he is going to f*** him up on sight’.
“And I said ‘well, where is Masvidal sitting?’ They said he was sitting six or seven rows away from Masvidal.
“I said ‘if the guy has a ticket, let him sit in his seat and do what he is doing’. Keep an eye on him.
“[Laughs] It never even crossed my mind that, as stupid as this could be, that the entire Muslim Brotherhood was here tonight in the first five rows for Islam.
“As soon as it broke out, I was over the other side and went ‘f***, I know exactly what that is’.
“So you will never see Dillon Danis at another UFC fight ever again.
“You’ll never see him at another fight.”
“Open the White House!” – Islam ECSTATIC | 00:42
White added that he had been asked if he wanted to press charges against Danis and have him arrested.
“But I said no,” the UFC boss continued. “This is the fight business, man.
“You know how I feel about this.
“And I could’ve prevented this tonight. I messed up.”
White added that to the best of his knowledge there had no been charges laid against anyone else involved in the melee.
“But anyone else involved, I dunno,” he added. “But we, the UFC aren’t doing anything”.