UFC 148: Post-Fight Press Conference Notes

After tonight’s UFC 148 event in Las Vegas some of the major stars on the card joined UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference and we’ve got our full keynotes from it below.

– Tonight’s event did a $7 million gate in Las Vegas based on a crowd of 15,016 – the UFC’s biggest ever haul in the U.S.

– Chael Sonnen is being humble in defeat, acknowledging that the better man always wins, and that’s what happened tonight.

– Asked what comes next, Sonnen isn’t looking too far ahead saying he’s going to get his Aunt a lobster tail, take a shower and get a good night’s sleep.

– Dana White wasn’t happy with Forrest Griffin’s decision to walk out of the Octagon and head for the dressing rooms as soon as his fight finished, claiming that if he had gone through with it, it would have been “professional suicide.” He also says that if Griffin was shooting for Joe Rogan’s job by interviewing Ortiz at the end then he can forget about it.

Nevertheless he concedes that he still loves Griffin.

– Sonnen doesn’t blame Silva for grabbing his shorts at one point during the fight, admitting that it’s something he himself might end up doing the next time he fights.

– Sonnen sheepishly admits that he “feels like a doofus” for falling down after missing a spinning backfist.

– Tito Ortiz believes he won his fight tonight with Griffin despite the judges seeing it the other way. He said he had no respect for Griffin’s pitter-patter striking. He thinks the fans know that he really won.

He says he’s done now with the sport and feels he accomplished what he set out to.

He’s taking solace in the fact he went out on his shield though and says that through his career he’s ensured that his children will have a secure future.

– Ortiz didn’t appreciate Griffin deciding on the spur of the moment to interview him instead of Joe Rogan, calling it “bullshit.” He has a history with Rogan – he was the first person to interview him in the UFC – and he’s disappointed he didn’t have the chance for him to be the last to interview him.

Griffin apologizes and ruefully admits he wishes he could take that moment back.

– Dana believes that it was Sonnen’s performance in his first fight with Silva that ensured that this rematch was going to be a huge success.

– Dana says Silva is the greatest fighter of all time and is a “freak of nature.” He says most fighters just get old one day and don’t perform the way they used to, but so far Silva is showing none of that and he isn’t willing to put a limit on how much longer he’s got in the sport.

– Cung Le says he’s “in a dream state” and is very happy after getting his first UFC win.

– Demian Maia describes tonight as the most important fight of his career apart from his title fight with Silva. He admits that he wanted to go back to his BJJ roots in this fight.

– Chad Mendes feels great after his quick win and he’s ready to get back into the Octagon as soon as possible and get back to a title shot.

– The UFC are bringing an event to Russia, “sooner than you’d think.”

– Sonnen dismisses the talk of the knee strike that Silva landed being illegal, saying that he’s an old-school guy who doesn’t care about the legality of it and “hates those rules”.

Dana is in no doubt that it was a legal knee.

– Ortiz is looking forward to just having a normal life now and being able to eat and drink what he wants. Dana jokes that he’ll look like Matt Serra in a month. Tito quips back, “or Dana White.”

He wants to go fishing more, he sees the potential for him to do some commentating and perhaps taking some acting classes. Whatever he does he’s certain he’ll be successful.

– White clearly wasn’t impressed with Cody McKenzie, stating that Chad Mendes deserved a better opponent and that this was one of the most lopsided fight in UFC history.

McKenzie is then the butt of one of the UFC President’s jokes when Griffin says he’s not going to be calling out 205lb champ Jon Jones and White jokes, “He’s going to fight Cody McKenzie next.”

Griffin confirms he does still have some fights left in him.

– Unless Silva tells him differently White expects the champion to stay at 185lbs. He admits he’s in awe of the champion.

– Sonnen offers some rare praise for the Brazilian fans, saying that they have the right idea by backing their countrymen. He doesn’t think that’s always the case with the U.S crowd.

Sonnen thought it was great what Silva said after the fight.

– Silva says he holds no more ill-will towards Sonnen.

– Sonnen says he won’t hang around in the UFC if he’s not going to be going after the title. He doesn’t believe in just “blending in.”

– Sonnen doesn’t take solace in his performances against Silva, saying that in his mind it’s either “pass or fail.” He admires Silva’s ability to find a way to win.

– Silva says he trained for being taken down, and the only difference between this fight and his last with him was that he wasn’t hurt this time and knew he’d be able to turn things around in the second round.

– Silva is very happy that he was able to put in a good performance for the fans all over the world.

– “This is absolutely 100% the biggest fight we’ve ever done,” White says. He points to the fact that ever day this week they had record breaking traffic on the official UFC website. The pre-fight press conference also had a million more viewers than any other they’ve done, and all trends point to this being the biggest PPV they’ve ever done.

– Silva says he loves what he does and for as long as he can physically and mentally keep performing at the same level he’ll continue to fight.

– White doesn’t rule out the possibility of Ortiz one day having a job with the UFC on day. “We’ll see,” he says, though he doesn’t look like he’s going to rush into doing it. “Time heals all wounds.”

Ortiz says he’s always been there for the UFC and has never talked badly about it.

– Dana doesn’t have any plans to open up a UFC Hall Of Fame.

– Silva says “no” when asked if he’s thinking about a superfight with Jon Jones.

– Mendes feels that if he had to fight Aldo again he wouldn’t do anything different other than avoid getting hit by the fight-ending knee.

– Le says he’s not making any plans for the future and will just see how things go. White interjects and says that what Le meant to say was that he’s going to get back in the gym and prepare for a fight in China!

– Mike Easton is delighted with his win and to be a part of an historic event.

– Sonnen isn’t considering a post-fight career in comedy. He says he’ll be involved in MMA one way or another.

– Silva is still motivated to be involved in the sport and is proud to be a part of the company and be amongst fighters like Tito Ortiz who have been around the UFC longer than he has.

– Finally, White thanks for the media for all their support this week and says that even the mainstream media were taking notice of this event.

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.