Three of the biggest names to compete on UFC 329 will have hearings Wednesday to determine if portions of their fight purses will be withheld due to scaling the cage in celebration.
Max Holloway, Paddy Pimblett, and Gable Steveson are all listed as having disciplinary hearings at the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) monthly meeting in Las Vegas, according to an agenda published Friday.
While the commission did not specify what disciplinary misconduct the hearings center around, multiple people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie that the hearings are based around celebratory cage-leaps. Both Holloway and Pimblett were captured during the broadcast exiting the cage after their first-round stoppage victories. Steveson was
not seen climbing the cage, though it may have occurred while the broadcast as showing replays.
Pimblett's manager, Graham Boylan, of Intensiti Fighter Management, told MMA Junkie on Friday that he sees the rule as outdated and called for change.
"For the record this rule needs to be changed," Boylan wrote in a text to MMA Junkie. "Yes it’s the fight game and systems need to be in play to make it all work but this rule does nothing to support that. It’s 2026 apply a little common sense."
The hearings are not the first of their kind. Diego Lopes had $5,000 of his disclosed $100,000 show money withheld for scaling the cage at UFC 300 in April 2024. The commission ended up landing on a fine of $2,500 for Lopes in the end. Four months later, Mayra Bueno Silva was fined at UFC 303 the same $2,500 amount of leaving the cage to speak with Dana White between her TKO stoppage and the official decision-reading.
It's unclear how much Holloway, Pimblett, and Steveson will have withheld or what proposed fine they are looking at, though $2,500 seems to be the number the NSAC was using in 2024.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Three UFC 329 stars facing purse withholdings for cage-scaling; manager calls for rule change
