Report: Hotel fire forces fighters to evacuate night before UFC Fight Night 107

This is not the way you want to spend your night before a big fight, but at least all the weight cutting was over.

According to a report by MMA Junkie, fighters were forced to evacuate the Hilton Canary Wharf hotel in London, England, earlier tonight (Fri., Mar. 17, 2017) due to an apparent fire. With less than 24 hours before UFC Fight Night 107’s start time, fighters were woken out of bed and ushered out of the building as smoke reached as high as the 10th floor.

Some of the unexpected action can be seen below courtesy of mixed martial arts (MMA) reporter Simon Head.

“As soon as you got into the fire escape, you could smell smoke,” said Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight Scott Askham, who meets Bradley Scott on the UFC Fight Night 107 undercard tomorrow night. “I don’t know what floor, but you could smell smoke coming down the fire exit.

“I would imagine it’s going to be a long time before we’re allowed back in. The only plus side, I suppose, is at least the opponent’s in the same boat.”

Also in attendance was Straight Blast Gym head coach John Kavanagh, who will corner Gunnar Nelson and Makwan Amirkhani on Saturday. Kavanagh was returning from a nearby restaurant to find his hotel out of sorts.

“I turned the corner and saw what I thought was an ambulance,” explained Kavanagh. “And for some reason, in my head I thought, ‘Gunnar or Makwan’s opponent is sick.’ I was sure of it. I was like, ‘Ah, we’ve lost a fight.’ But then I heard it’s a fire and I was like, ‘Oh, OK. It’s not too serious.”

This is obviously a hiccup for each and every UFC Fight Night 107 fighter staying at the Hilton Canary Wharf hotel, but at least nobody got seriously hurt.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 107 fight, starting with the UFC Fight Pass "Prelims" matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, before the UFC Fight Pass main card start time at 5 p.m. ET.