UFC CEO Dana White said mixed-martial arts fighter Dillon Danis is banned from future events after his involvement in a brawl on Saturday night during UFC 322 in New York.
The melee inside Madison Square Garden occurred in the spectator seating before the main card featuring Russian Islam Makhachev, who defeated Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC welterweight title.
Danis, 32, fought with several members of Makhachev’s team, including Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Magomed Zaynukov, as security personnel tried to restore order, according to media reports citing multiple videos.
“You will never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again,” White said at the press conference after UFC 322.
White said the organization would not be pressing charges against Danis.
“So they call me from downstairs and they said, ‘We got him down here, do you want to press charges and have him arrested?’ And I said, ‘No, we don’t want to press charges. This is the fight business, man. You know how I feel about this … I could have prevented this tonight.’ ”
Danis has a history of bad blood with Team Khabib that dates back to a fight in October 2018 in Las Vegas. Danis was a training partner of MMA star Conor McGregor and in his corner for a bout with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, with the rival camps exchanging heated words leading up to the bout.
McGregor, who made disparaging remarks about his opponent’s family and religion, lost the fight by submission. Nurmagomedov afterward leaped out of the Octagon to attack his corner, leading to a brawl between the teams.
Nurmagomedov is a longtime teammate of Makhachev, whose teammates were in attendance at Saturday’s card.
White said he should have understood the proximity issue of Danis sitting near his rivals.
“It never even crossed my mind, as stupid as that could be, that the entire muslin brotherhood was here tonight in the first five rows for Islam (Makhachev),” White said.
“I blame myself for that (brawl), actually,” White said. “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.’
So I said, ‘If the guy has a ticket, let him sit in his seat. Let him do what he’s doing, but keep an eye on him,’ ” White said.
–Field Level Media
