Following UFC 171, Dana White spoke to FOX Sports about the evening’s big talking points. Read our keynotes below and scroll down to watch the interview for yourselves.
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– White calls the main event between Hendricks and Lawler, “one of the greatest fights.”
He doesn’t know how Hendicks managed to survive the sustained assault he received from Lawler in the third round. He thought the fight was Lawler’s for the taking in the final round, but he got caught mid-way through that final five minutes which lead to him losing the fight.
Dana won’t comment on how far away Lawler is from another title shot, but he says there were no losers tonight, reiterating that it was “an awesome fight.”
– While nobody wants to get his hand raised due to a freak injury, White still says it was a ‘big win’ for Tryon Woodley against Carlos Condit.
– White says that Nick Diaz was heckling Johny Hendricks the entire fight. Diaz said backstage that he wants to fight again, but White says that Diaz hasn’t spoken to him about it.
– He doesn’t know when GSP will return, but he’s convinced that one day he will do so.
– White wasn’t overflowing with praise for Hector Lombard, noting that he felt he might have gassed a little in the first round, but he still “looked good” handling Jake Shields who has a tendancy to make fighters look bad.
– Holly Holm was at UFC 171 and talked with Lorenzo Fertitta after the event. White acknowledges that there’s a lot of hype surrounding her, but she’d have to come in and prove herself in the UFC.
– White thought Myles Jury looked good against a “maniac” in Diego Sanchez who can be difficult to deal with.
– Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen will definitely happen eventually, but there’s “some issues” that are standing in the way of it at the moment that are not related to contracts or money. He won’t be drawn on what it is, but hopes to “have a result soon.”
– He hopes they can figure out who’s next for Johny Hendicks in the coming week.
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