Wrestle World - Matt Brown sides with Merab Dvalishvili over fan altercation at UFC 310: ‘You touch me, I’m f*cking you up’

Merab Dvalishvili may not have proven his altercation with a fan at UFC 310 was some sort of elaborate set up staged by his next opponent Umar Nurmagomedov, but Matt Brown has his back when it comes to the actual incident that unfolded.

Video surfaced late Saturday night that showed Dvalishvili being pulled away by security after he got into some sort of altercation with a fan in the crowd, who actually ended up trading punches with UFC fighter Dennis Buzukja before he was apparently escorted out of the arena. Dvalishvili eventually posted his own Zapruder film that showed how the whole incident started with the fan actually grabbing at him before all hell broke loose.

Brown went through something similar during his own UFC career so he sympathized with Dvalishvili’s outburst because he argues fans should never, ever touch a professional fighter in those situations.

“I still say these fans, keep to your f*cking self, bro,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “You don’t f*ck with professional fighters. Most of us are martial artists that are respectful and stuff, but we’re also human beings and we’ll rip your f*cking throat out. Don’t f*ck with us. It’s stupid.

“You can’t grab a professional. Someone touches me, I’m f*cking them up.”

Brown recounted his own altercation from 2016 when he traveled to Brazil for a fight against Demian Maia.

While the retired welterweight admits he riled up the crowd by flipping them off at the weigh-ins, he didn’t actually physically go after anybody but that all changed when he was making his walk to the octagon.

“When I fought Demian Maia in Brazil, one fan grabbed my hat,” Brown revealed. “That was the first one and then I got punched by one or two fans after and then one of them, I punched them back and I probably knocked them out.

“They pulled me away so fast I don’t know what happened, but I landed a clean shot on him and finished my way to the cage. On the way out to the cage. I socked him right in the f*cking face.”

Brown says when he got backstage after the fight, UFC officials addressed the situation but didn’t blame him for the altercation because fans were able to get too close to the fighters as they walked to and from the cage.

In the aftermath of his own situation, Brown remembers the UFC actually changing how the walkouts worked so fighters wouldn’t be so easily accosted by fans, which would hopefully cut down on further incidents like he had in Brazil.

“I remember Dana [White] changed things after that,” Brown said. “I don’t know what exactly the changes were but basically talking about separating the fans a little bit more, particularly in Brazil, maybe having a little bit better security when guys are walking out. I was right there in touching range, and they were hitting me and pulling my hat off.

“I’m not just going to sit here and take this, plus I’m completely fired up ready to walk into a fight. You get hit, it’s a natural reaction — you hit someone back.”

While Brown admits even verbal abuse could lead to a physical reaction, he believes most fighters should be able to avoid escalating that situation, although every encounter merits its own reaction.

But he says under no circumstances should physical contact happen, and when it does, the fans guilty of grabbing a fighter can’t be surprised at what happens next.

“There’s nothing more to say about it. You touch me, I’m f*cking you up,” Brown said. “I’m sure every other fighter feels the exact same way. We should be able to handle people saying shit but I totally understand that, too. We get sick of hearing people say shit.

“At some point it’s like do I have to show you that I can f*ck you up? Because I will.”

Brown believes some fans have gotten a little too comfortable saying whatever they want with no fear of reprisal and that’s only escalated some of these incidents.

He knows from personal experience that some of these altercations are a powder keg just waiting to explode and nobody should be all that surprised if a professional fighter erupts in that moment.

“A lot of these [fans], they push that line all the way,” Brown said. “When you’re flipping a guy off, you deserve to get your ass kicked. The only reason we don’t is because of security or repercussions, not because you don’t deserve it. It’s because of repercussions. That’s the only reason.”