DANA WHITE: Dana believes in cleaning out a weight class, then moving on to another. He believes that Anderson Silva will stay at middleweight no matter what the outcome of the Vitor Belfort fight will be. Chael Sonnen has a very interesting matchup with Silva and may create problems for Vitor as well. Dana said that Randy Couture is one of the greatest light heavyweight fighters in the world. Dana was asked about the antics that Tito Ortiz pulled after the Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture fight and he simply said "That’s Tito, who doesn’t have bad blood with Tito!" Commented on how good Phil Davis looked and said that there is more upcoming fighters that are making there rise in the UFC.
PHIL DAVIS: Defeated Brian Stann by unanimous decision. "Day one on the job." Credited Stann for his crisp standup and went on to say that Brian hit him with seven different kinds of smoke! He was very satisfied with his win and he hopes that his coaches are proud. He is looking forward to becoming good at everything, as just being good at one aspect is not good enough.
MELVIN GUILLARD: Defeated Ronnys Torres. Thought that he won the fight no matter what the judges were going to say. He was glad that the judges went to his favor. Torres would take him down, but did not do anything with the takedowns. He went on to say that he thought that Ronnys only landed a couple punches and he thought he was landing almost everything. He said that there is always room for improvement and he is glad that he has a new MMA family with great coaches. He will keep pushing until he gets to the title.
FRANK TRIGG : Loss to Matt Serra by KO in the first round. He did not think that he was out, but understands the judges have a job. He said they stopped it, it is what it is. He is going to go home and talk to his family and see if he should continue fighting after dropping two fights in a row.
MATT SERRA: Defeated Frank Trigg by KO. Really does not have a clue when he will fight again. He is opening up a new gym and will be working on that. He said that he will fight whomever the UFC puts in front of him. He said he "is just a fighter; I am down for whatever." He trained on throwing the body shot then going to the head. He thought that Trigg was going to try and take him down more and was shocked when he wanted to stand. Overall he thought that he fight worked out alright.
DAN MILLER: Loss to Demian Maia by unanimous decision. He credited Maia for being good on the ground. He said that he felt good through the fight. He thought going into the third round that he had one a round and Maia had one a round. He just could not defend against Maia on the ground.
DEMIAN MAIA: Defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision. He said it felt awesome to have a victory after a loss like he had taken before. He wanted to stand up and prove that he is not a one-sided fighter. He credited Miller by stating that he is a very tough competitor. He said that he followed his gameplan the entire fight. He wants to be fighting for the title and hopes to be fighting for it this year. He was happy that he did the fight in a different way that he was not used to and came out with the win.
PAULO THIAGO: Defeated Mike Swick by submission and won the Submission of the Night bonus as well. He decided to go in for the submission because it was more open than going for the TKO finish. He loves to be a cop and fighter at the same time. If he had to choose between the two, he would be a fighter. He said that he feels more emotion in the cage and it pays better. His game plan was to wait for the Swick to attack due to his aggressive style and try to catch him. He then went on to say that he would fight anybody.
CHAEL SONNEN: Defeated Nate Marquardt by unanimous decision and won Fight of the Night bonus. "It was the most miserable 15 minutes of my life." He did not think that the fight would go the way that it did. He had trained with Nate before and was unable to take him down. He thought that he was going to pass out during the choke, but he was not going to tap. His mental preparation for the fight was knowing that he was going to get beat up, he just wanted to beat him up worst. He would rather Silva beat Vitor because he believes that Vitor is the tougher opponent. "Take the easier opponent!" (And yes, he really said that) He credited his team for being there for him and helping him along the way. He thinks that he needs to get better at everything. My favorite quote: Sonnen said, "If you want to be a fighter and get in the cage and be a big deal at your local strip club, go to Showtime, but if you want to fight real guys, this is the place to do it.
MARK COLEMAN: Loss to Randy Couture by submission in the second round. He said that Randy was a lot better, stronger, and threw crisper punches than he expected. He still said that was the biggest fight in his career. He said that Randy is a legend in the sport and proved it tonight. He tried to be mature at the end of the fight, but Tito got the best of him and he said what he said.
RANDY COUTURE: Only had to cut 8 pounds to make 205 pounds. He said he normally walks around at about 217 or so. The fight could not have gone better. He said that he had a very good training camp. He likes being active and fighting frequently. Everything felt good during the fight. He thought that he had rocked him, but was unable to finish. He really wanted a KO because he has never had a knockout in his career. His game plan was to stay light on his feet and stick and move. He then went on to say that he has no idea what you are supposed to feel like at 46; he is just having fun and training. He said that he cannot compete with the heavyweights due to the weight advantage. Not only are they big, but they are great fighters he said.
Come back in two weeks for UFC 110.
To read Jason Amadi's detailed report on this same press conference, with his analysis of what was said, click here (or App users, please click on the News section).
[Dana White photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]
FAVOR: Would you help MMATorch by taking a short survey to create demographic info for our ad company? CLICK HERE
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
