UFC president Dana White reacted after UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev kicked Sean Strickland before UFC 328.
At Thursday’s UFC 328 pre-fight press conference, White allowed Chimaev and Strickland to square off with each other for a photo op ahead of Saturday night’s massive fight. White, who knew full well that Chimaev and Strickland hate each other, was assured by both of the fighters that nothing would happen between them if they got close. With tons of security guards and police officers standing nearby, White could never have expected anything to happen.
But Chimaev was able to land a kick on Strickland during the staredown, nearly leading to the two men getting into a brawl before security and police were able to rip them apart.
Dana White Reacts to Viral Kick at UFC 328 Press Conference
Speaking to Paramount+, White was asked what his reaction to Chimaev’s viral kick was, and here’s what the UFC president said.
“I haven’t had a press conference like that in a very long time. It’s always exciting, interesting, funny, not funny when you have guys who dislike each other as much as these guys do,” White said.
“I was good (with the staredown). I felt that we had it completely covered, and as you can see, I was holding his arms the whole time. I didn’t see the kick coming. It bums me out. I hate when I miss those. I believe that if I had one less guy on the stage, we wouldn’t have had enough people. I think we had just enough people to stop that thing.”
“You saw me holding [Khamzat’s] arm the whole time, but he got me with the kick. I didn’t see the kick coming.”
Khamzat Chimaev Explains Rationale Behind Kick
After the kick, Chimaev explained why he decided to land a blow on Strickland, even knowing full well that the fight could have been put in jeopardy had anything happened to his opponent.
“If I didn’t do this he’s gonna do more and more bad things. If I let him do it, he’s gonna speak about my mom, my dad, everyone. That’s why I just had to stop him,” Chimaev said about the kick.
Thankfully, Strickland did not get injured by the kick, but what if he had? If that did happen, then Chimaev wouldn’t have gotten paid, so it was rather pointless to pull a trick like that, even though the clip went viral and helped hype up the fight even more than it was before Thursday’s presser.
On Saturday night, Chimaev will be able to kick Strickland as much as he wants to once the cage door locks. He hates his rival to the bone, and he now has the chance to legally hurt him inside the Octagon. You just hope that nothing happens to either of these two before the fight takes place, as both badly want to get into the cage and rip each other’s heads off. But they won’t get the opportunity to do that if there is a pre-fight injury due to something as silly as an unnecessary kick at a press conference. Now, you just have to hope nothing happens at Friday night’s ceremonial weigh-ins.
Dana White Reacts to Khamzat Chimaev Kicking Sean Strickland