Dana White Reacts To Jorge Masvidal-Leon Edwards Backstage Brawl

Jorge Masvidal caused chaos in the MMA world this evening. First, he shocked Darren Till in the main event of UFC London, dropping the Brit with a vicious second-round KO (watch highlights here).

Second, and much more controversially, Masvidal incited a minor riot backstage after the fight when he left an ESPN interview to punch fellow fighter Leon Edwards. Masvidal actually cut Edwards in the altercation, leading to a police investigation into possible crimes. However, Edwards did not press charges so Masvidal will not face arrest.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t be in trouble with his boss, UFC President Dana White. White reacted to the brawl in a statement to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto shortly after it went down. He was livid, insisting the UFC needs to do a better job at stopping such events:

“I can’t even believe that this happened. We (UFC) need to do a much better job of making sure this shit doesn’t happen at any of our events!”

Comment from Dana White on the Masvidal, Edwards scuffle: I can’t even believe that this happened. We(UFC) need to do a much better job of making sure this shit doesn’t happen at any of our events!!!!

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 17, 2019

Indeed, he has a point. Incidents such as the UFC 229 post-fight brawl and the UFC 223 pre-fight melee (both involving Conor McGregor, for some reason), have put a permanent black eye on the sport even if they did sell tons of fights.

The Masvidal incident may not do the same on a pay-per-view level. But there’s certainly hype behind the potential match-up now that this went down. So White can complain all he wants, but the fact remains that drama sells.

Ask anyone who saw Masvidal land a three-punch combo out of nowhere tonight.