UFC president Dana White felt after UFC 229 that nobody was nearly as upset as he was.
The major fighting event went off the rails after Khabib Nurmagomedov hopped out of the octagon after defeating Conor McGregor. All hell broke loose. It was wildly entertaining, but was also incredibly stupid. (RELATED: Conor McGregor‘
Conor McGregor v Khabib
The ending
What the heck!! #UFC229 pic.twitter.com/DyJswVbcXd
— Bin Veto (@binveto) October 7, 2018
White told ESPN the following Monday:
For me, it was just our biggest moment, the most people watching ever, and that’s just not who we are and it’s not even who Khabib is. He said many time after the fight that he went crazy after the fight and it happens sometimes. This is the fight business … I was the most upset guy on the planet after that fight. Nobody else cared.
You can watch the full video of the interview below.
It’s a wild thing to say, but White really shouldn’t be that upset. Was it briefly an unsafe environment? Indeed, but it also put the UFC front and center on every sports show in America for the several days that followed.
He might have been pissed, and rightfully so. However, sometimes you just have to recognize the bigger picture, which I’m sure he does. You can’t put a dollar amount on the free publicity brought on by the melee after the fight.
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This will blow over just like everything else, and the UFC will be much better off for it. That’s simply a fact. Now, if somebody had been seriously hurt, we’d be dealing with a different situation. However, that’s not what happened.
White will look back at UFC 229 as the event that elevated his fighting league to the next level.