Dana White to critics: ‘Shut up again’
UFC President Dana White, took stage at the UFC 139 Post-Fight Press conference, and answered questions about where Hendo vs. Shogun…
UFC President Dana White, took stage at the UFC 139 Post-Fight Press conference, and answered questions about where Hendo vs. Shogun placed in the all time great list, and whether that fight should have been on UFC on FOX instead of JDS vs. Velasquez.
“Without a doubt, it was one of the top three best fights ever in MMA, without a doubt,” said White. “I have so much respect for both of those guys to dig down that deep in a five round fight. That was like our Ali-Frazier three you know what I mean, it was incredible. This is one of those tough fights. In the first round, they both knocked each other down, you give Henderson the first three rounds, you give Shogun four, and you give Shogun 10-8 in the last round for a dominate round; it’s a draw. It’s one of those tough ones but that’s how I scored it. But who the hell am I?”
White went on to address the critics who said he should have put Hendo vs. Shogun in the UFC on FOX debut, in place of Velasquez vs. JDS, which of course ended up lasting 64 seconds.
“If that fight that happened tonight went on FOX for the first time ever, let me tell you what – I would not be having a good time these last five or six days,” White said when MMAjunkie.com asked him the question. “We’ve got to ease our way – look, we live in this bubble, gang. We live in this bubble that the rest of the world doesn’t live in and doesn’t understand. We’re still in an education process and educating the masses about what the sport is and what it’s all about.
“Those of us who are in this room and people who have been watching this for a long time just incredibly appreciate what those two did tonight in there, and you can understand what they went through and what’s going on. The rest of the world would go, ‘Oh my God. What was that?'”
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again: If I could go back in a time machine and do the FOX fight again, it would be done the same exact way – exactly the same way. The hardcores can b—- about that fight. I couldn’t care less what they think about that fight. I don’t care. People are like, ‘Oh, you don’t care what your fans think?’ No, I do not care what you think. That fight had to go the way that it went because none of you guys understand what goes on behind the scenes.”
“Those of you that think we didn’t do the right thing on the first FOX fight do not understand what it takes to build this sport beyond national television,” White said. “So shut up again.”