Following Saturday night’s TUF 16 Finale UFC president Dana White talked to the media about some of the big talking points in MMA at this moment in time.
Check out keynotes from the media scrum below and scroll down to watch the full video for yourselves.
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– Dana is keen to stress that it wasn’t their idea to put GSP up against Nick Diaz – it was the champion who asked for the fight. If White had got it his way GSP would have been fighting Anderson Silva.
– He thinks it would be a bad move for Johny Hendricks to sit out and wait for his shot at the title, pointing to the problems Rashad Evans faced with injuries, call-offs, etc when he tried to do the same thing.
– Jamie Varner was being sick backstage at around 5pm on fight night which is why he was taken off the card. He still wanted to compete, but the doctor wouldn’t let him.
Varner Vs Melvin Guillard will now be moved to UFC 155 instead.
– Dana admits that he can’t guarantee that Diaz won’t screw up somehow which would result in his fight with GSP being nixed for a second time, but he points out that with Johny Hendricks Vs Jake Ellenberger and Carlos Condit Vs Rory MacDonald also scheduled to fight on the same card at UFC 158, that if he doesn’t make it then St.Pierre will still get a worthy opponent.
– While he’s not sure when it’ll happen, he’s still sure that before he retires Silva will fight both GSP and Jon Jones.
– Regarding Ronda Rousey being immediately put in as the main event on a PPV event in 2013, White points out that whenever a champion fights on a UFC card, regardless of which division they are in, they always get the headline spot – it’s standard policy.
– Dan Henderson has assured White that his knee is getting better and he will be fit to fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 157.
– White’s not sure about doing an all-woman season of TUF, but he would be keen to have women coaching.
– If Michael Bisping beats Vitor Belfort he’s likely to get the next shot at Anderson Silva’s title.
– Bellator advertised their forthcoming move to Spike TV during the ‘UFC On FOX’ show last weekend. White doesn’t seem phased by it, admitting he’d probably have done something like that too in order to draw attention to the events i fhe’d been in their shoes.
– China, India and Canada are all set to get international versions of TUF.
– The UFC are opening up an office in Brazil and have big plans for that market going forward.
– Dana says he bet on Marquez to beat Pacquiao, so he wasn’t surprised by it. He thinks it was foolish for Bob Arum to sign that fight in the first place, saying Pacquiao should have fought Bradley instead.
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