A group of fans that accidentally tumbled over a collapsed railing last night during UFC 289’s pay-per-view (PPV) main card from inside Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, escaped with only a “couple minor injures.” This is according to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White.
Last night’s return to Vancouver was an eventful one for UFC. Not only did Amanda Nunes wipe out Irene Aldana in the main event and then announce her retirement from the sport, but former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira delivered an epic co-main event knockout finish over red-hot contender Beneil Dariush (watch HERE).
Another major attraction on the card was Canada’s own, Mike Malott, who made his third appearance inside of the Octagon against fellow welterweight Adam Fugitt. While Malott looked incredible in an eventual second-round submission win it was his walkout that garnered the most attention.
As Malott began to come out of the back and make his way to the Octagon a collection of Canadian fans were leaning over the barricade railing trying to get involved. Moments later the railing collapsed and a collection of fans toppled over onto the arena floor. It looked pretty serious, but according to White nobody was seriously injured.
“It was during his walkout,” said White during UFC 289’s post-fight press conference (watch HERE). “Nobody was seriously hurt. A couple minor injuries.
“The arena handled it immediately. Roped it off. Got security up there. Moved people to better seats. And handled it like a bunch of pros.”
White, who has seen a lot of wild things throughout his tenure as UFC president, said the promotion took it in stride. With everything that happens each week at all of the different events the promotion hosts this incident at UFC 289 was simply par for the course.
“You guys have no idea all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes every single Saturday. This played out on the other side of the curtain and you got to see this, but there’s stuff that happens every single Saturday. We deal with it on the fly every weekend.”
The Rogers Arena also released the below message following the incident that aired live on PPV:
“The safety of our fans is our #1 priority at Rogers Arena. At tonight’s UFC event, as fans leaned over to greet the fighters, a railing fell down. Our arena staff worked quickly to relocate fans in the affected area and no serious injuries were reported. Venue security and staff remained on-site throughout the rest of the evening to ensure everyone’s safety,” read the statement.
For complete UFC 289 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
