Dillon Danis walked into UFC 322 like a man carrying years of grudges on his shoulders, and he left the arena the same way, only this time escorted by security and banned from all future UFC events! The Madison Square Garden chaos wasn’t a surprise for those who’ve followed his long, messy history with Team Khabib. Ever since the infamous UFC 229 brawl in 2018, where ‘The Eagle’ leaped out of the cage toward Danis after finishing Conor McGregor, the rivalry has simmered, boiled, and erupted at every unexpected moment.

But this latest incident felt different. Islam Makhachev had no teammates competing with him that night. Yet somehow, Team Khabib still found themselves throwing punches before the main card had even begun. And now, ‘The Notorious’s longtime coach has chimed in with a pointed observation of his own.

John Kavanagh believes Dillon Danis is responsible for keeping the Team Khabib feud alive

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show on YouTube, John Kavanagh didn’t mince words, nor did he pretend the situation was anything new. When Helwani joked that Danis could’ve used backup during the brawl, Kavanagh laughed before offering the line that now defines the incident, “It doesn’t seem to want to go away, but I guess he doesn’t want it to go away either.”

The SBG founder and head coach also revealed he wasn’t anywhere near the chaos. “I was up in the bleachers,” he said in the interview, distancing himself physically and symbolically from Dillon Danis’ latest self-inflicted storm. Yet his comment hinted at something deeper, a belief that Conor McGregor’s former training partner fuels these confrontations as much as he suffers from them.

It’s not hard to see why Kavanagh feels that way. Danis has spent years provoking the Nurmagomedovs online, mocking Islam Makhachev, and resurrecting old insults tied to family, religion, and the UFC 229 feud. Even as Khabib Nurmagomedov and McGregor moved on with their careers, Danis kept the fire alive, often escalating things further on social media.

The newly crowned welterweight champion, Islam Makhachev, made the aftermath brutally clear at the UFC 322 post-fight press conference as he stated, “When you talk about someone like for the last five years, when you meet them, you have to answer for what you said, you know. Today, I don’t think he answered. He still says a lot of things about our team and today he coming and somebody just meet him. He talked about these guys bad and today the guys just meet him. That’s it.”

So where does that leave Dillon Danis now? Well, UFC boss Dana White has come out with a surprising take on the whole situation as he took the blame for the situation himself, but not without shutting the doors forever for the controversial grappler and mixed martial artist!

Dana White takes the “blame” for UFC 322 debacle as he reveals what went wrong

Dana White didn’t dodge the question. He didn’t point fingers at security, the venue, or even Team Khabib. Instead, he stunned reporters by saying the chaos at Madison Square Garden fell partly on him as he confessed at the post-fight press conference, “I blame myself for that actually.”

The UFC boss revealed that moments before the main card, he was told Danis wasn’t in his assigned seat. He had wandered into fighter seating, causing White to have flashbacks to his infamous UFC 229 moment. Danis was suspended for seven months and fined $7,500 for his role in the post-fight melee with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

But at UFC 322, White made a call he now regrets. He allowed Danis to stay as he revealed, “He had a ticket and they said, ‘Do you want us to throw him out of here?’ Well, if the guy has a ticket, let him sit in his seat and let him do what he’s doing and keep an eye on him.”

With Makhachev headlining and surrounded by teammates who still carried years of unresolved tension, the outcome felt almost inevitable. Sure enough, Dillon Danis crossed paths with the wrong group at the wrong time. A brawl erupted instantly. White was on the opposite side of the arena when he saw the commotion. His reaction was immediate as he shared, “And as soon as it broke out I was over on the other side and I go, ‘(Expletive), I know exactly what that is. I knew it. And yeah, you’ll never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again.’’

So, Dana White’s admission of fault only added another layer to the spectacle. He may regret letting Danis stay in his seat, but his final verdict was absolute: Danis has reached the end of the UFC road. John Kavanagh’s blunt assessment, that Danis “doesn’t want it to go away,” now rings louder than ever. And based on Makhachev’s fiery post-fight remarks, neither side seems eager to bury the past.