Kevin Holland had to renounce acts of vigilantism but he just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. A little over a month after his scuffle with Chimaev caused an Upheaval at UFC 279, Holland got into it again.
This time he was caught up in a brawl with former Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman after UFC 281.
Backstage at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, Holland got physical with former welterweight world champion Kamaru Usman. Comedian Jim Norton recorded the encounter on his phone and then posted the video on Twitter.
“Bit of an altercation backstage at #UFC281 tonight. Not sure what the issue was. Almost lost my phone but luckily @reedharrisufc swooped in to the rescue.”
While Holland’s spat with Chimaev is famously documented and had caused the cancellation of the UFC 279 press conference it’s not as widely known that Usman is no stranger to scrapping while attending events.
A throwback video of Kamaru Usman and Ali Abdelaziz in an altercation with spectators backstage at a PFL event was recently shared online.
During a PFL event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2018, Kamaru Usman and Ali Abdelaziz took part in an altercation. In other videos of the incident, Usman is shown pushing a fan after the fan shoved him back. As Abdelaziz attempted to approach Usman, the other event goers grabbed hold of him, which caused the situation to worsen.
However, the chaos was immediately stopped by what looked to be police involvement. The footage doesn’t clearly show what caused the incident.
After his 2018 PFL altercation, Kamaru Usman later appeared on The MMA Hour to provide his side of the story. Usman said that as the national anthem began to play, he and Ali Abdelaziz exited the auditorium to grab some water.
When someone who looked to be kneeling started yelling at them, Usman and Abdelaziz waited for the song to conclude before entering once again. His repeated efforts to defuse the situation were greeted with crude comments.
Usman said:
” I’m like, ‘Back up, you’re in my space.’ And the guy goes, ‘You ain’t going to do nothing, what do you think? You’re f’ing tough?’ I think he’s going to swing on me because he’s more and more aggressive so I push him off me and I’m like, ‘Bro, back up.’”
Things escalated quickly as Usman and Abdelaziz got jumped on and the future UFC champ couldn’t believe the absolute bizarreness of the situation.
Usman further added:
“I turn around for us to leave and all of a sudden while my back is turned, I get hit in the back. Boom. Then it’s like three of them jump on Ali and then three of them jump on me and now it’s like I gotta defend myself.”
“I’m in self defense mode and I’m trying to draw one guy off me and it’s all just a crazy commotion, guys are trying to jump on — and the whole time, I couldn’t believe the situation was happening.”