Dana White stayed back after the UFC On FOX 3 pre-fight press conference yesterday for a chat with the media and we’ve got a full rundown of what he said below, plus scroll down to watch the full video for yourselves.
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– Jon Jones going to heavyweight isn’t something the UFC president is interested in seeing anytime soon. He points out that right now the 205lb champ doesn’t have a problem cutting weight so there’s no need for him to do it.
– White sounds relieved that he won’t have to worry about Chael Sonnen’s safety now they’ve decided not to have his rematch with Anderson Silva in Brazil. He says he always believed Sonnen would be ok down there, but after taking him to a presser in Brazil he was surprised at how the No.1 contender continued to stay crazy stuff about both the country and Silva.
– He doesn’t appear confident that Nick Diaz will escape a suspension after testing positive for marijuana after his last fight, saying that it’s clearly something that’s not allowed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
– Strikeforce woman’s 135lb champion Ronda Rousey is “a rockstar” according to White and he just hopes that they can continue to find her good opponents in the future. Unfortunately he fears that’s going to be hard to do.
– Speaking about The Culinary Union’s continued interference with MMA and the UFC in particular, White claims that the real reason they keep trying to put obstacles in the promotion’s way is that they want to force the Station Casino’s ran by UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta to join their union which would earn them almost $11 million a year in dues.
– Regarding Ross Pearson’s DUI arrest, White says he has spoken to the fighter and “we’ll help him through it.”
– On ‘Rampage’s’ constant comments that he’s unhappy with the UFC and wants to leave, White says if that’s the case then the feeling’s mutual.
– White reveals that he had never met ‘King Mo’ until after he was released from Strikeforce after being suspended for an anabolic steroid and then calling the judge at his hearing a “racist b!tch”. Despite what he had done the UFC president did come away from his conversation with the former Strikeforce 205lb champ feeling that he was a “good guy” and also a smart guy who had made a bad decision.
– He confesses that he did try to set up a fight between Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and BJ Penn in the Strikeforce promotion recently, but Penn turned down the opportunity saying he wasn’t interesting in fighting at that time.
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Props: MMAfighting.com
