Someone at the UFC may want to send out a memo: fighting is to be done in the cage.
While UFC 305 takes place in Perth, Australia on Saturday (Sunday local time), a trio of UFC fighters were in unsanctioned, unscheduled action on Friday.
With the PFL setting up shop at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, there was little doubt a number of fighters would be in attendance. Those included UFC middleweights Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen, who were supposed to face off earlier this year before Vettori was forced out due to injury.
So instead, the pair apparently decided to get into it inside the casino, actually squaring up, with Allen firing off a combo, forcing Vettori to retreat before security and bystanders intervened.
NVM ALLEN GOT VETTORI 😭😭pic.twitter.com/iQDkUDmXdG https://t.co/vqA4rPYvbD
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) August 17, 2024
Dana White would later comment that since it was a PFL event, Allen vs. Vettori must have been Fight of the Night, proving at least that he doesn’t watch his competitors— former UFC fighter Impa Kasanganay, the 2023 PFL light heavyweight champ, and Josh Silveira had a brilliant scrap in the night’s main event.
Meanwhile, at Friday’s Craig Jones Invitational, which turned into a train wreck when Jones kissed Gabi Garcia during face-offs, resulting in the cancellation of their match (or maybe not), Merab Dvalishvili tried to get into it with a fan. Or more accurately, a heckler.
From the looks of things, the heckler quickly realized the error of his ways.
Merab just charged a heckler in the crowd at #CJI and knocked his hat off his head 😳
🎥 @RedCorner_MMA #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/ZoxuWNBosf
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 17, 2024
Merab Dvalishvili is scheduled to fight for the UFC bantamweight championship next month against Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306. The scary part here is, while security intervened before anything too serious happened, Dvalishvili nearly slipped scaling a security barrier — which could have easily resulted in an injury and potentially taken him out of his title shot.
