Following last night’s UFC On FOX 15 event, Dana White spoke to FOX Sports 1 about some of the big talking points of the night.
Read keynotes from the conversation below and scroll down to watch the interview for yourselves.
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– White claims to have been ‘Shocked’ by Luke Rockhold’s convincing victory in the main event given that it’s so rare we see Lyoto Machida beaten so easily.
White was clearly impressed and admitted that Rockhold had put together a strong case that he could fight the winner of Chris Weidman Vs Vitor Belfort next for the title, but he stopped short of guaranteeing it.
– The reason for that is that Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza also “looked pretty damn good tonight too”. Although he appeared to be in something of a lose-lose scenario given that he was left facing an unranked opponent in Chris Camozzi who he’d already easily beaten in the past, White was still impressed with how he handled his business and said it’s “a good problem to have” when left to decide whether Rockhold or ‘Jacare’ gets the next title shot.
– White compares Paige VanZant to Conor McGregor in the way that she’s had a lot of hype before having a chance to show what she can really do, but has then backed it up with her performances inside the Octagon.
He believes she has the ‘it’ factor and says out of everybody that fought on the card, PVZ was the one everyone wanted to meet backstage after the fight.
He did acknowledge that technically VanZant made mistakes in the fight, but she was so scrappy and strong that she was able to overcome them and beat Felice Herrig up on FOX.
– The UFC president confesses he didn’t expect to see Max Holloway dominate Cub Swanson the way that he did. White describes it as “an amazing performance” against a very tough opponent.
– Overall, White agrees that with the likes of VanZant, Holloway and earlier in the night Beneil Dariush, there’s a lot of good up and coming talent emerging in the UFC’s ranks at this moment in time.
– White admits they do have a date (believed to be December 5th) held for Madison Square Garden in New York based on their hope that the sport will finally be legalized there soon. He claims it would be “an absolute travesty” if it doesn’t happen this year.
– TUF 21 premieres on Wednesday night on FOX Sports 1 with a change in format as two fight camps, American Top Team and The Blackzillians compete for $500,000, and White says he thinks fans will like it and claims it has, “a completely different energy” than anything they’ve seen before.
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