Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 81 event in Boston, UFC president Dana White spoke with Megan Olivi about the big talking points of the show.
Read our keynotes from their conversation below and scroll down to watch the full interview for yourselves.
—
– White says the main event decision was “razor thin” and “could have gone either way.”
– Apparently White is keeping his own scorecard to himself, but he does say that there was a big question mark about how Dillashaw would perform against Cruz, and in his opinion he looked great. He says Dillashaw, “kept the pressure on, his speed was on, he didn’t back down, he didn’t crumble,” and despite being made to miss by Cruz in the early rounds he didn’t let it phase him. So, reading between the lines you’d have to say it looks like White thought Dillashaw had done enough to retain his title.
– Rather than discuss who’s next for Cruz, either a rematch with Dillashaw or a grudge fight with Urijah Faber for instance, White is just going to wait and see if the champion is healthy as he was visibly limping from a foot injury after the fight. White jokes that Cruz doesn’t deal in small injuries, it always ends up being serious and he has the worst luck.
– Finally getting around to praising the winner, White calls Cruz, “super talented, obviously mentally strong, tough,” and says he has a lot of respect for him.
– White wasn’t expecting the fight that took place between Eddie Alvarez and Anthony Pettis, but as it unfolded he felt it made sense as there was a good chance Alvarez would have come off second best if he’d tried to engage Pettis on the outside.
He felt that Pettis did a good job of defending the takedowns, but didn’t let his offensive striking go as much as he should have when he did find space.
—
