UFC 289 railing collapses at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena during Malott walkout
Posted June 11, 2023 11:39 am.
Last Updated June 11, 2023 3:05 pm.
A railing collapsed Saturday night at UFC 289 in Vancouver as fans leaned over it to greet Canadian fighter Mike Malott.
In a tweet, Rogers Arena says no one was seriously hurt, but didn’t elaborate on what prompted the railing to fall.
“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 rans 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,” the tweet reads.
Railing collapses #UFC289 pic.twitter.com/ffFaHdomfY
— Taner (@TanerFrank) June 11, 2023
In a press conference following the event, Malott says he didn’t let the incident shift his focus.
“I noticed it for like a quarter of a second. It fell, I kind of like jumped to the side, stepped over the gate, I was like, ‘one: that sucks for them, two: don’t think about it, stay focused. And immediately forgot about it afterward,” Malott said.
“I didn’t remember it happened until one of my cornermen brought up the video. ‘Cause one of my cornermen — the gate fell on him,” he said.
— Rogers Arena (@RogersArena) June 11, 2023
UFC President Dana White adds that staff were on hand to quickly deal with the situation.
“It was during his walkout, and no, nobody was seriously hurt, [a] couple minor injuries. The arena handled it immediately, roped it off, got security up there, move people to better seats, and handled it like a bunch of pros,” White said.
“You guys have no idea all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes every single Saturday. So this is just you know, 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 and we deal with it on the fly every weekend.”
White adds that despite the incident, the event was a great success.
“This arena treats us well, the city’s been great, the people in Canada are the best — there’s not a lot of negative things you can say about coming to Canada. We did a 5.14 million gate, sold out 17,628 — I mean it’s just cha-ching, cha-ching- cha-ching, I mean, everything about this country is awesome.”
