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UFC president Dana White had a stern warning for media members who want to ask fighters about their beef with other combatants while at a press conference.
During the UFC 287 pre-fight press conference on Thursday, White shut down questions from attending media members who were curious about the verbal altercation featuring Jorge Masvidal and Kevin Holland. The two welterweights scheduled to fight at the event against other opponents got into it in a hotel lobby the day before and had to be separated by security.
White was asked at the UFC 287 post-fight presser on Saturday night about his decision not to allow Masvidal and Holland to comment on the incident.
“Well, the reason I didn’t want you guys talking to them about other fights is, guys, we’re f****** two days before a fight,” White said. “He’s not fighting Jorge Masvidal. Whatever they’ve got into… first of all, it creates s*** backstage and at the hotels. Right?
“When you guys ask them questions like that and they say something, we’ve still got two days until the fight and these guys run into each other backstage and everywhere else, and it’s so disrespectful to their opponent. There’s an opponent sitting up there that they’re going to fight. I just hate that s***. I get it, you want your f****** clicks, or whatever it is you guys want to get — your little f****** moment that you can post.
“But, I will f****** attack you if you do that, you know what I mean? It just causes a lot of bulls*** backstage and at the hotel. It’s like the stuff that went down with [Nate] Diaz and all those guys, Khamzat [Chimaev]. These guys have f****** 20-30 guys backstage. That s*** just can’t happen here, and you guys can’t instigate it.”
Holland & Masvidal Got Into a Second Altercation, Trailblazer Evaded Extra Security
TMZ reported that “Gamebred” and Holland got into a second altercation on Friday morning outside of the weigh-in location. According to Holland’s manager Oren Hodak, “Trailblazer” incited the incident by saying to Masvidal: “Sup, baby girl.”
According to the UFC president, the promotion had tried to have security tail Holland during fight week, but Trailblazer evaded them.
“We have,” White said when asked if the UFC had upped security because of Holland’s tendency to beef with other fighters. “Nobody got into a fight, did they? Until you guys started trying to start s*** and get stuff going, right?
“Nothing happened. A lot of yelling at each other and stuff like that. But the thing is, you’ve to understand: these guys are grown men. So, when Holland left the press conference that day, I told the security guys, ‘I want more security on him.’ And they told him when he got off the stage. You know what he did? He ran out the back and left by himself because he doesn’t want security.
“These are grown men and we can do as much as we can do.”
Holland Won, Masvidal Lost & Retired at UFC 287
Both Masvidal and Holland competed on the pay-per-view portion of Saturday night’s event in Miami, Florida. Trailblazer halted his two-fight losing streak by stopping Santiago Ponzinibbio in the third round via KO. While speaking with Joe Rogan during the broadcast, Holland challenged Masvidal to a scrap.
Gamebred entered the Octagon as one-half of the co-main event. He fought top-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns and suffered his fourth consecutive loss. After Bruce Buffer announced he was defeated via unanimous decision, Masvidal announced his retirement from the sport.