Following last night’s ‘UFC Fight Night 35’ event in Atlanta, Dana White chatted with the media about some of the big talking points in the sport at the moment. Read our keynotes from the conversation below and scroll down to watch the video for yourselves.
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– There hasn’t been a decision yet on when Chris Weidman will fight Vitor Belfort, but Weidman has indicated to White that he’d like to spend a full summer with his family, so with that in mind it looks like it could end up being May rather than July if possible.
– White couldn’t be more sorry for the injury-jinxed Dominick Cruz, saying that “if he didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all.” He says the only person who can rival him in the bad luck stakes is Cat Zingano.
Thinking back White reckons Cruz’s layoff is probably the longest in UFC history.
– White states the case that if Renan Barao beats Urijah faber again he could be the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. On the other hand, regardless of whether he wins or loses, Faber has had an amazing 12 months and is looking better than ever.
– He claims the new ‘UFC Fight Pass’ service is doing great, but ducks the question as to what the actual viewer ratings are for it so far. He says they have some great things lined up for the channel that fans are going to enjoy.
The plan is to have all the UFC’s library of fights up on the service by the time the free trial finishes in March.
– Regarding the WWE’s own subscription service, he describes Vince McMahon as a trailblazer for putting all their PPV’s on their as part of the deal, but says it doesn’t make sense for him to follow suit. He also notes that since the WWE’s announcement several of the PPV providers the pro-wrestling firm deals with are now talking about potentially not dealing with them anymore.
– White won’t rule out the possibility that Brock Lesnar could return in the future. He says he does speak to the WWE star and Lesnar acknowledges he has some regrets about how things went in the UFC due to his battle with diverticulitis. White believes the star would still like to fight again, so who knows what might happen.
– With a big smile White admits that the PPV numbers for UFC 168: Silva Vs Weidman II, “didn’t suck” and it was “a great way to end the year.” He says he always knew it was going to be a big success.
– While Nate Diaz did have a big win over Gray Maynard recently, it’s still just one win and so White doesn’t think he’s earned the right to be calling for a title shot or more money yet.
– He likes Khabib Nurmagomedov’s attitude and the fact he seems willing to fight anybody – but he stands by his belief that some of the UFC’s lightweight stars aren’t keen to fight him.
– It may yet be that UFC On FOX 11 is headlined by Travis Browne Vs Fabricio Werdum after all. For the time being though they are still building the card so it’s a case of wait and see.
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