FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST MMA News : UFC UFC News: Post-UFC 103 Press Conference Summary including Vitor Belfort vs. Anderson Silva, Fight of Night, KO of Night, GSP Update, Cro Cop Update

Sep 20, 2009 - 1:53:29 AM
By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor
By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor

-Dana White announced 17,428 was the paid attendance, considered a sellout. Gate was $2.4 million.

-Bonuses were $65,000. Fight of Night: Story-Foster. Knockout: Vitor Belfort. Submission: Rick Story.

-White said the Kampmann stoppage was a great stoppage because you don't want to see someone take more hits than they need to.

-White said Dallas was great, packed, and brought tons of energy. He said he thinks they had the biggest gate in the arena's history, beating out the Rolling Stones. He said they plan to run events all over Texas, not just Dallas.

-White said they weren't sure which Vitor would show up, but tonight they saw the Vitor Belfort with the killer instinct.

-White said with GSP not being ready to fight until February, they have time to figure out the muddy Welterweight Contender Division. He dismissed GSP fighting at 185, saying he sees no reason at this time and GSP hasn't expressed interest.

-White said Daley vs. Swick seems like a potential next fight for both. Regarding whether Swick's fight will take place in Texas, White said they try to accommodate fighters who want to fight in their home towns.

-White said he made Cro Cop go to the hospital even though he didn't want to. White said he has to take a 20 hour flight and he wants to be sure he's okay. Regarding Cro Cop: "When you get older, you see all the openings but you can't pull the trigger." Regarding Dos Santos: "That definitely put him on the heavyweight map. He's in the mix."

-White affirmed Vitor is a 185 pound fighter. He said switched the fight away from Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin because the fans didn't want to see it. He said he thinks Vitor is ready for Anderson Silva, so it sure sounds like that's a fight we're going to see. He said he wants to see Dan Henderson vs. Nate Marquardt, also, and that winner can face the winner of Vitor-Silva.

-White touted the KO win by Tyson Griffin. He said the 155 pound division is "nasty" and there's so many contenders, many things could happen regarding title shots.

-Tyson Griffin said it's an unwritten rule that teammates will face teammates if it's for the title and he'd help Gray Maynard train for a title fight just as Gray would help him if he got a title shot first.

-Rich was asked what his greatest concern was: "He's Brazilian and he's a south paw and I tend to have a problem with those guys for some reason." That drew some laughs in the room. He said he hired a south paw to help him train. He said he's still not sure what caught him and he's remembering things in bits and pieces.

-Vitor said he went through battles and phases. He said he made mistakes with his career in the past, and blamed a manager of his for bad advice. He said he made bad moves himself, then quoted the Bible saying the glory of the second half is better than the first. "If God is going to give it to me, I am going to receive it," he said.

-When asked if he was surprised by Vitor's approach, Rich said he needs to rewatch the fight. He said when he heard the fans booing, he felt he needed to pick up the pace and then shortly thereafter he got caught by something.

-Koscheck said he thinks Georges St. Pierre should fight him next, but that's not up to him. "Matt Hughes would be a great fight, and Georges St. Pierre would be even better." He reiterated that he told Joe Silva he'll fight next month or the month after if anyone backs out or gets hurt. White ran down Koscheck's latest impressive showings and said he's not far from a title shot.

-Vitor said he trained so hard for the fight and was away from his family for three months including his three babies.

-When Daley was asked who he wants to face next, he said he will face whomever UFC puts him against. He said he's a fighter's fighter and he'll go out there and try to finish off anyone he faces.

-White said regarding Rampage "we kind of made up" regarding Rampage filming the "A-Team" movie rather than fighting Rashad Evans as was planned. He then went on to make it sounds like he's not the least bit happy with Rampage's decision. He said the movie was supposed to be over in December, but now he's told due to make-up dates, he can't even fight in February. "It is what it is," he said, not sounding pleased with the situation at all. He said Rampage does want to fight Rashad, but he has no idea when it's feasible.

-White said there are so many talented guys in 205, he's not sure who is in contention to face the winner of Machida-Shogun. He said it's unfortunate that the Rashad-Rampage fight won't happen . "It's a big deal for a lot of different reasons," he said. He noted that Tito Ortiz is back. "We'll see what Chuck does when he's done dancing," he said. "He said he wanted to take time off and then he and I were going to talk about what he wanted to do." He said there are a lot of options. "I'm not his dad," White said regarding a question of whether he'd make him retire.

-White said he loves Chuck doing "Dancing With the Stars." He said he's 212 and he's taken getting in shape for that more seriously than his UFC fights. He then said they put Rampage on the show with the understanding that he would face Rashad afterward, and it's a big deal he's not doing so in a timely fashion. "He was obligated to take that fight," he said. When asked if Hollywood is new competition for UFC talent, whereas Dream and Pride used to be in the past, White said, "Hollywood is a pain in my ass sometimes, that's what they are," he said. He then ripped on Hollywood agents, saying they deliver about four percent of what they talk. He said they've got Rampage convinced that he might not make much for this first movie, but he'll make 20 million on the rematch. He said he'll make the same offer for Rampage-Rashad - nothing for the first and 20 million for the rematch. He then added he was kidding.

-White said Rich is one of those guys who have been loyal to UFC and helped build the company, so Rich isn't going anywhere. He said he will sit down with him and figure out what's next for him.

-White spoke enthusiastically about Dos Santos, especially praising his strategy of taking Cro Cop on standing rather than shooting on him. He said he's excited about the heavyweight division.

-When asked for an update on a network deal: "I guarantee you we will have a network deal by this time next year," he said. He added he wants it to be sooner, but he's playing it safe.

-White touted the viewership of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Wednesday. He said it did 4.1 million on the first viewing and another 1 million for the replay. He said "Fight Night" drew 2.6 million viewers, so they were happy with that. He said ratings built throughout the show.

-On his own he brought up the Floyd Mayweather fight, saying he couldn't believe nobody asked him about it yet. He said he bought the fight. "It sucked just like I thought it would, just like I said it would. It was horrendous. It went to a boring 12 round decision."

-White called Dos Santos vs. Cro Cop "a great fight." He said both of Cro Cop's eyes were busted up. He praised those two for really banging.

-White said he loves that they have Vitor at the 185 weight class, plus Marquardt vs. Henderson makes sense. When asked if Vitor would face the winner of Marquardt vs. Henderson to get a shot at Anderson, White again said he thinks Vitor is ready to face Anderson now.

-White said regarding the rescheduling of the March event being moved out of Columbus, he said they're going to skip a year there after going there every year recently. He said they still love Ohio. He said they're definitely going to Boston next year.

-White said he had another opponent in mind for Randy Couture for UFC 105 and it didn't work out.

-When asked about expanding to lower weight classes and how that might affect WEC, White joked that he regretted saying he'd take one more question. He said they're going to do whatever makes the most sense for the business and right now they have a deal with Versus and WEC goes on. Not a ringing endorsement for the future of WEC or Versus as a partner.

[Dana White photo credit Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]

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