Dana White is kicking himself for making a big mistake at UFC 296.
MMA’s premier promotion ended another bumper year with a stacked card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it delivered big KOs, shocking submissions, and many memorable moments.
White was furious with himself after UFC 296Credit: Getty
However, the event was marred by two fighters throwing down in the crowd.
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was caught on camera hopping over a seat to attack his next opponent, Dricus du Plessis, ahead of their fight at UFC 297 on January 20.
The often controversial American delivered several elbows and punches to his rival before security managed to separate the two men.
White was upset with himself for sitting the pair so close to one another.
“What kind of an a**hole sits Strickland next to du Plessis? This a**hole, that’s who,” he said to a chorus of laughter at the UFC 296 post-fight press conference.
“I do every seating assignment every week. How f***ing stupid is that?
“I mean, seriously. I don’t know what humans you can sit Strickland next to, but definitely not du Plessis. I don’t know how I missed that.
“It’s my job to make sure that stuff doesn’t happen. If I wasn’t an a**hole those two wouldn’t have been sitting next to each other. It blows my mind that I let that slip.”
The middleweight rivals were bizarrely sat right next to each other
Banter quickly turned into a brawl and White is kicking himself
The UFC CEO wasn’t aware that new footage of the incident showed Strickland ushering a small child out of the way before launching an attack on du Plessis.
“It didn’t know that. That’s awesome,” White said sarcastically when he learned about his middleweight titleholder making an effort to avoid hurting a child during the melee.
“’Could you step aside so I can assault this gentleman, please? Thank you, children.’ No. I was bummed out there were children at that press conference the other day.
Despite being disappointed by the brawl, White insisted Strickland and du Plessis will not face any type of punishment from the promotion he’s run since 2001.
They’ll now return to their respective camps and continue training to officially fight in the Octagon next month.
