UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja has to wait until at least February to know his fate after his temporary suspension was extended by the Nevada Athletic Commission following an altercation with a fan at UFC 310 this past December.
The commission voted on Tuesday to approve the extension of the suspension pending a full disciplinary hearing at a later date. The suspension was initially issued on Jan. 7 and Buzukja remains suspended until the commission decides on a possible punishment.
Buzukja came under fire after he ended up getting physical with a fan at UFC 310 after he cornered Aljamain Sterling in his fight against Movsar Evloev.
Several videos surfaced after the event that showed UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili getting heated with the same fan, who allegedly grabbed his arm and shouted at him as he walked back to the locker room following Sterling’s fight.
Security eventually intervened but not before Buzukja actually started throwing punches with the fan.
Dvalishvili later blamed the incident on the fan escalating the situation with accusations that he was connected to the same team that represents Umar Nurmagomedov. At the time, Dvalishvili was preparing to face Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.
“I went and approached him and I just put his hand down, I was trying to deescalate and tell him, ‘Yo, calm down, bro. Relax,’” Buzukja said about the incident this past December. “Merab was going away, I just wanted to tell him to relax, have some respect.
“Then he cracked me first, actually, he cracked me with a nice little left hook and then it was just instinct to hit him back. Then security came in, but part of me is like, ‘Should I just drop the bucket and just jump over and start swinging?’ Just go full, f*cking degenerate, but I’m glad it didn’t happen that way.”
Following UFC 300, the Nevada Athletic Commission issued a nine month suspension and a $25,000 fine after Arman Tsarukyan got into an altercation with a fan during his walkout before facing Charles Oliveira. It remains to be seen if Buzukja potentially faces a similar punishment or possibly a stiffer penalty after the commission decried Tsarukyan’s actions at the event this past April.
