Dana White: UFC 149 ‘craziest card of all time’
UFC 149 has now seen nine fighters withdraw: Yoshihiro Akiyama, Thiago Alves, Jose Aldo, Siyar Bahadurzada, Michael Bisping, Antonio Rodrigo…
UFC 149 has now seen nine fighters withdraw: Yoshihiro Akiyama, Thiago Alves, Jose Aldo, Siyar Bahadurzada, Michael Bisping, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, George Roop, Thiago Silva, and latest, Claude Patrick. In addition, Erik Koch and Shogun Rua were moved from the card due to opponent injuries.
“I’d say this one wins,” UFC president Dana White said. “This is the winner. We lost nine to injury and we had to move two other fights. So I would say, yes, this was the craziest card of all time.”
The card was supposed to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and top contender Erik Koch with Michael Bisping-Tim Boetsch as the co-main event. But Aldo was forced out with an injury and, later, so was Bisping thanks to surgery.
The UFC looked to one of its most popular fighters, Urijah Faber, for a rescue and moved his interim bantamweight title fight against Renan Barao to the main event at UFC 149 from a co-headlining spot at UFC 148.
“I think if you look at our track record, when things fall apart we put the cards back together,” White said. “… the fact of the matter is, we do always deliver. … And I’ll tell you this right now: Most of the people who live in Calgary have never seen the UFC live. We’re coming. And you think you like what you see on TV? Wait till you see this live event. Our fighters always deliver.”