UFC 279 Headliner ‘Gave a Boot in the Chest’ at Presser, Says Chimaev’s Coach

Getty Khamzat Chimaev prepares for his welterweight fight against Gilbert Burns.

UFC star Khamzat Chimaev “gave a boot in the chest” to Kevin Holland at the pre-fight press conference for UFC 279, reports coach Andreas Michael.

Ahead of his upcoming clash with Nate Diaz this Saturday, Chimaev has been feuding with fellow athletes on the roster, including the former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa and longtime rival Holland. “Trailblazer” bashed Chimaev for his brief altercation with Costa and labeled him a “wannabe street” guy.

Chimaev took issue with Holland’s comments and reportedly confronted him before the start of Thursday’s presser. Coach Michael of Allstars Training Center was backstage and shared his take on the matter.

“What happened was, Khamzat went inside by himself, then it started with Kevin Holland,” Michael said via MMA Junkie. “He gave him like a boot in the chest then they started whatever they’re doing, and then the Diaz crew came in and they started doing what they’re doing, but nobody got injured thank God.”

UFC president Dana White canceled the press conference after things escalated, marking a unique incident in the promotion’s history.

Coach Michael Dismissed Talks of a Potential Fight With Costa & Holland

There was speculation that Chimaev and Costa were putting on a show for the fans and generating some buzz around a potential showdown ahead. Holland had previously gotten into a scrap with Chimaev in 2021. The two welterweights clashed at a hotel lobby and needed to be separated by security.

Coach Michael argued against the idea of competing against either “Borrachinha” or Holland. He made it clear that “Borz” has his eyes set on the gold and would only consider the matchups that would help advance him.

“Respect to everyone, we’re not here to fight anyone,” Michael added. “And no, Kevin is not gonna get a fight with Khamzat. Forget about that. … The same with Paulo (Costa), they’re not gonna get a fight. That’s about it. We’re gonna fight against the champs and the guys that are over us, not under us. Finished, it’s done. That’s how it is. We climb. We don’t regress, we progress.”

White Promised More Security for Future Events

Following the cancelation, White issued a statement assuring more security for the events in the future. He gave props to MMA fighter turned Manager Tiki Ghosn for stepping in between Chimaev and Holland before team Diaz got involved.

“If it wasn’t for Tiki, we would have been in big trouble,” White told ESPN. “Tiki took a couple for the team and he wasn’t on the team.”

White stated that it was the nature of the game but added that he would be looking into the matter to ensure a similar occurrence does not happen again.

“This is what we do,” White said. “This is the business we’re in. This is the fight business. These things happen. What we do is look at how this happened today — why were we unprepared for this? Why were we not able to manage this backstage better than we did? And we’ll be better next time we do a press conference. This will never happen to us again.”