Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar were gracious in victory and defeat respectively at UFC 150 last night, but apparently the same can’t be said for the two lightweight fighters managers.
Early in the post-fight press conference while Frankie Edgar was preparing to answer a question there was some commodition in the sidelines off-camera. Some swearing could be heard on the mic and the same person then shouting, “get off of me, get off of me!” which resulted in Dana White heading off-stage and telling the instigators to leave.
Later reporter Ariel Helwani revealed that it was Henderson and Edgar’s managers Malki Kawa and Ali Abdel Aziz who had been involved.
Aziz
“If you’re wondering what the brouhaha was during the presser, I’m told Frankie’s mgr @alidominance and Bendo’s mgr @malkikawa got into a scuffle,” Helwani said on Twitter. “Not sure who won, but I’m told it was the opposite of the main event, if you catch my drift. For whatever it’s worth, Ali and his team say he punched Malki in the face. It seems like they didn’t like what he had to say after the main event, although, I’m not quite sure what was said.”
An angry Kawa then claimed that Helwani had his facts wrong.
“So now you go off of one side and that’s how you do???? That’s not what happened but great job in being a dick head reporter,” he reported.
It’s not the first time Kawa has been involved in unusual situations like this. For instance he was the manager that Matt Mitrione fired live on air after a UFC fight a couple of years ago after a dispute over sponsorship earnings.
Kawa manages some of the sport’s leading fighters such as Jon Jones and Carlos Condit, and recently hit the headlines when he helped secure Jones sponsorship deal with Nike.
Aziz hasn’t appeared in the spotlight quite so much, but in addition to looking after Edgar he also looks after many of the Gracie family along with the likes of Keith Jardine, Buddy Roberts and Chad Griggs.
