Read on to find out what Dana White had to say to reporters in a post-fight media scrum following the press conference and scoll down to watch the full video of it for yourselves.
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– White’s not a fan of the extravagant weigh-ins / walk-ins that some fighters like ‘Mayhem’ Miller do and while he lets them do what they want to do he thinks they should take the fight game more seriously.
– Nothing physical happened with Mayhem backstage after the show, but whatever was said it’s lead to him being released from the promotion. White admits he’d probably have been cut anyway given the poor performance he’s given in his last two fights.
– Dana isn’t sure whether Josh Barnett will eventually come over to the UFC, pointing out that they don’t have a good past history with him.
– Arianny got arrested for domestic assault yesterday in Las Vegas, but White says that she’s a good girl and they’ll stand by her 100%.
– Dana confirms that Junior Dos Santos is as easy-going and likeable behind the scenes as he is in front of the cameras.
– Brock Lesnar asked White if he could come to the fights a week ago. At the event he texted Dana and asked him if they could talk face-to-face and he agreed and they were planning to do so after the show.
White isn’t exactly sure what the WWE star wants, but admits it could be that he’s looking to return to the UFC.
– He thought that Strikeforce’s GP final between Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett was a great fight, especially since both men broke their hands in the first round.
– The idea of having Junior Dos Santos rematch Cain Velasquez in a soccer stadium in Brazil is something that interests White who feels it would be a big fight.
– White likes Struve as he’s a finisher who goes in to “kill or be killed,” but he’s not sure what comes for him next.
– In an ideal world White wouldn’t put TUF: Live on a Friday night. However he says it’s FX’s decision and points out that they are a big network with a lot of programming so it’s not easy to just shift the show to a different night.
– He acknowledges that Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez isn’t happy being stuck over in that promotion without real challenges, but the reality is that he’s signed a contract over there and his day will come in the future.
– It sounds like Jamie Varner was someone that matchmaker Joe Silva had been trying to bring back to the UFC for a while.
– Glover Teixiera was someone that a lot of people, including Chuck Liddell, had been campaigning to get in the UFC for a long time, but Visa issues had kept him out until now. White admitted he looked awesome last night though against a tough, durable fighter in Kyle Kingsbury.
– Dana denies he holds any ill-will towards Jacob Volkmann and in fact despite his loss he praises him for being a very talented fighter.
– He believes Diego Brandao gassed during his fight after looking like “a killer” in the first round.
– White loves the format of TUF: Live. He admits the scary part about doing it live however is that one of the fighters could get injured. He jokes that they wanted an awesome semi-final fight, but not so awesome that one of the winners got hurt and couldn’t compete in the final next week. That’s something they plan to look at for the future.
– He talks up TUF finalist Michael Chiesa who he says doesn’t have the best skills on the show, but shows tremendous heart and finds a way to win. He says that’s the type of fighter they are looking for.
– White shoots down any chance of Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin coaching the next season of TUF.
– Jon Jones DUI charge won’t affect the date of his fight with Dan Henderson, but the UFC president admits he’s not sure whether it’ll affect the champions performance on the night.
– He thinks that Jones will need a lot of guidance now that he’s making a lot of money is getting famous at such a young age as that can be a recipe for disaster.
– White gives evidence why he always says that bad sh!t happens every day by noting that just today alone he received word of octagon girl Arianny Celeste being arrested for domestic violence, and Vitor Belfort pulling out of his headline fight with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147 next month due to an injury!
He has someone in mind to replace Belfort against Silva, but he won’t say who it is yet.
– Both White and Lorenzo Fertitta had a tough talk with Roy Nelson recently, and the UFC president says that after his big KO win last night he went over and mouthed off at them both. White describes it as Nelson’s “big f*ck you to me and Lorenzo!”
Apparently Nelson has asked White in the past why he isn’t getting the sponsors that other fighters get, but he says it’s obvious why, with his big shaggy grey beard, long, unkempt hair and overweight physique. Nevertheless he does respect him as a fighter with a granite chin and heavy hands.
– White wanted Renan Barao to play more of an active role in the final episodes of TUF: Live now that he’ll be facing season coach Urijah Faber at UFC 148, but the Brazilian couldn’t break his training camp as he was helping out Jose Aldo prepare for his next fight.
– As far as he’s concerned the Velasquez Vs Bigfoot fight should have been stopped a lot earlier by the referee as Silva couldn’t see with all the blood that was covering him and was getting pounded on. White claims it might even be the worst cut he’s ever seen and can’t even imagine what would happen if that had been shown on network TV.
– Nate Diaz is someone White thinks came off looking like a big star in his last fight on FOX.
– Regarding his battle with Meniere’s disease, White is adamant that he wants surgery, which won’t cure it, but will alleviate the symptoms, even though it would mean he’d have to do things like learn to walk again due to a nerve that would be cut during the procedure. His main concern is suffering more problems with the disease while traveling around the world as he says it’s the worst he’s ever felt.
– More stringent drugs testing is something that the UFC is looking into now, though there’s no date for it becoming a reality.
Check out the full post-fight chat below courtesy of MMAHeat.
