Dana White UFC 168 Post-Fight Interview

Dana White spoke with Ariel Helwani backstage after UFC 168 to give his initial reaction to Anderson Silva’s broken leg and other big talking points emerging from last night’s event and you can read our keynotes plus watch the full video for yourselves below.

–  White says he’s rarely ever seen a freak injury like this – citing Corey Hill’s leg break in the UFC a few years ago, plus one he’d seen on video and another that had happened in a college basketball game.

–  Speaking to Silva’s cornermen revealed that Silva had actually cracked his shin with the very first kick he threw in the fight that Weidman checked, but despite the fact it “felt weird” he still threw it again later on which resulted in the broken leg.

–  The doctor the UFC sends fighters too with these kind of injuries was actually in attendance tonight so he rode with Silva in the ambulance to the hospital and was going to perform the surgery (which a subsequent update from the UFC later that night confirmed was a success).

–  White hadn’t personally spoken to either the doctor or Silva as he just wanted to let the medical people do their job rather than get in the way.

–  He wouldn’t be drawn on whether Silva will now retire from the sport, admitting that this could have been his last fight, but also saying that it was possible he might still return one day.

– White admitted it’ll be a great disappointment if this was the way Silva has to bow out of the sport and “never in a million years” did he see something like this happening.

– The UFC president thought that the co-main event between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate was “an awesome fight” and that despite her loss, Tate did “a great job.”

At the same time he thinks it was good for Rousey that she had to fight for three rounds to find a finish, rather than in her previous rounds where she’d stopped her opponents inside the first round, as it gives her more cage time and experience in different situations.

– Cat Zingano won’t start training until March, so White isn’t confident about her being ready to fight Rousey any time soon.

Nonetheless, White is eager to keep Rousey busy in 2014. Having said that, he admits that if Rousey gets overs to star in more movies then that’s up to her – she has to be 100% committed to keep fighting.

– UFC matchmaker Joe Silva told White that Travis Browne is the most under-rated heavyweight out there and in fact he predicted that he’d beat Josh Barnett.

– Browne will now go on to fight Fabrico Werdum to establish who becomes the next No.1 contender in the division.

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.