Yesterday after the UFC 157 pre-fight press conference Dana White spoke to Ariel Helwani about some of the big talking points leading in to tomorrow night’s event.
Read our keynotes below and scroll down to watch the full video for yourselves.
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– White is certain that Ronda Rousey has had more mainstream media attention leading into this fight than any other fighter in UFC history including the likes of Brock Lesnar and GSP.
– He believes that putting the two women in the headline spot has already proven to be a success and says he already has data indicating a minimum of how many PPV’s they will sell on Saturday night and he’s happy with it. He also points to the fact that the gate for this event will be better than Velasquez Vs Dos Santos last year at the same venue.
– White confirms that the UFC are looking to cut 100 fighters from their roster. Earlier in the day he had suggested that Urijah Faber could be amongst those under threat if he didn’t win on Saturday night, though he now appears to be backing away from that a little.
– He’s keen to stress that he doesn’t dislike Jon Fitch despite him being a surprise addition to the fighters released so far this week. He still thinks he can win a few fights and make it back to the UFC at a later date.
– There’s a rumor that Eddie Alvarez may be looking to come to a deal with Bellator after all, and if that happens White is fine with it. As for Josh Barnett not for signing for the UFC, he says he’s not involved in the deal so doesn’t know what’s happening.
– White claims that between Nick and Nate Diaz it’s cost the UFC $50,000 due to interviews and other production related items that they haven’t shown up for.
Diaz’s manager stated earlier this week that the UFC should upgrade Nick to business class for his flights, but White fires back saying that if this keeps up they’ll be traveling by Greyhound bus.
– Donald Cerrone has contacted White and assured him that his daredevil antics are now in the past following a rock-climbing accident last week. White told him it just wasn’t worth it for him to be risking his fighting career with his extreme sport hobbies while he’s making so much money in the Octagon.
– He confirms that the UFC are now doing extra tests on fighter’s who have TUE exemptions to use TRT in the build-up to fights, with both Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort already having gone through tests recently.
White’s convinced that some fighters are abusing TRT and that’s the reason for the new tests.
– Dana says it was an honor to be interviewed by Larry King earlier this week.
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