Below are highlights from Dana White’s UFC Fight Night 47 media scrum.
On the card:
“The co-main (Maynard/Pearson) is a great fight, probably Fight Of The Night. The main event is an important one at 205. OSP is ranked 10, Bader is ranked 8. Losing tomorrow for Bader would be huge. If OSP wins that fight, he’s looking at the top six.”
On Tim Boetsch:
“He needs a win badly. He’s going in there against a young, hungry tough kid. This is a great fight, and I’m happy for Tim. A lot of guys want to fight in their hometown. I’m sure he thought it would never happen, but I’m happy for him.”
On the card being diverse with fights in nine weight classes:
“That injury bug is back that we had years ago, and we had a lot of different guys on this card that got injured. But we kept it together. This is one of those sleeper cards right here.”
On the community response and the event not being sold out yet:
“Our ticket prices aren’t cheap. I know it can be rough for this area, but this is what I wanted to do. We’re here and it is what it is. I’m excited.”
On making Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz:
I’m pumped for that fight. I can’t wait for Anderson to come back…he’s one of my favorites. And you know Nick Diaz is ready; that’s the fight he wanted.”
On Diaz saying he doesn’t enjoy fighting:
“He’s Nick Diaz; there’s a lot of things he says that make him Nick. I believe him when he says he doesn’t enjoy fighting. Everything he says are the reasons he is who he is. That demeanor makes him Nick Diaz. A lot of people don’t like going to work but you do what you gotta do. Not everyone is going to love it; it is what it is.”
On a sleeper fight for this card:
“The ladies fight (McMann/Murphy) is going to be great. It’s going to be very interesting as these are two tough girls. The girl fights are always awesome and 9 times out of 10, they steal the bonuses.”
On the evolution of women fighting in the UFC:
“Originally when I said I didn’t love women fighting, I looked at it differently. I’m sold on women fighting and am blown away. Look at Ronda Rousey. She is so empowering to women and little girls. There has never been a scenario EVER in the history of the world where a woman could beat a man. Now there is. I was at dinner last night with the TUF 20 cast and said, “This table could get up and clean this casino out right now. This season of TUF is going to be unbelivable. How about the LLWS where an African-American kid said his favorite athlete is Ronda Rousey. When have you seen anything like that? You have Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Lebron James, any baseball player. She’s a game changer, she’s unbelievable, and now you have a whole other group of women doing the same thing. I’m excited and proud. The best decision I ever made was to bring women in.”
On TUF 20:
“These women at strawweight are technically unbelievable. The two fights I saw yesterday (at TUF 20 filming) were unbelivable. They are really technical, and these girls are nasty. I can’t tell you how pumped I am. These girls remind me of Ronda with that killer instinct. It’s awesome”
Anything new on Gina Carano:
“It’s complicated. We’re still working on it.”
On War Machine:
“I’m not following it, but I saw what you guys saw. What I can’t believe is that they haven’t caught him yet. You have bounty hunters, police. That’s crazy. It’s horrible, man. Every time I see ‘ex-UFC fighter’….he fought twice for us six years ago! He’s a current Bellator/Viacom fighter! (Ed note: he was cut from Bellator the night the news broke.) My staff called all these reporters, and they don’t know what Bellator is. You heard of Viacom? That’s who he fights for. They want clicks, readers. How unfair is it….he fights for us two times six years ago and he’s an ‘ex-UFC fighter’. I get it. Not everyone has heard of them, but it’s Viacom.
On Josh Grispi:
“We all know War Machine. When you hear something, it’s horrifying, but Grispi? I never saw that coming. That kid didn’t seem to have that type of demeanor. You never know. it’s sad and horrifying, bad news.”
(Hat Tip: F4WOnline.com)
Talk about this on our official FACEBOOK page, or on our official TWITTER page. You can also talk about it in our popular FORUMS.
