DFW on Anderson Silva: I have never, ever seen anything that bad
ON ANDERSON SILVA JIM ROME: Good, Dana. You were furious after that fight with Anderson Silva for his performance against Demian Maia….
ON ANDERSON SILVA
JIM ROME: Good, Dana. You were furious after that fight with Anderson Silva for his performance against Demian Maia. You called it the most horrible thing you’ve ever seen. Specifically, what did he do that made you so mad?
DANA WHITE: Well, you know, nobody’s supported him more than I have, calling him the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and he didn’t act like it the other night. Not only did he not act like the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, he didn’t like a champion and, a UFC fighter. Taunting, not fighting, and then… from the third round on, running, and not actually engaging, it was a very embarrassing moment for me. I actually literally have never seen anything that bad, not even in boxing in all my years of boxing I’ve never seen anything as bad as what happened on Saturday night.
JIM ROME: So when you confronted him with that afterwards, what was his response?
DANA WHITE: You know, we had a good talk for about 45 minutes after the fight and after the press conference and, you know… you never know. We’ll found out in his next fight if I got through to him or not. The thing that really, really upset me after the fight and then the press conference was where he said he felt like he didn’t owe anybody an apology.
JIM ROME: Dana, why did he do that? What was going through his mind and what did he tell you when you asked him?
DANA WHITE: I wish I could explain to you and to the fans and the people that bought that fight why he did it or you know what was going on. Even if you look at the early rounds in the fight, the first and second round, the guy shows sign of absolute, you know, brilliance. I mean, the guy is so talented and I don’t know what it was. It was like a mental breakdown in there or something. I don’t know why, but I can tell you this — like I said, I’ve never been more embarrassed. I got up during the fourth round, took the belt, and gave it to his corner and said, You put it on him because I’m not going to do it, and I left the arena. I’ve never done that in 10 years.
JIM ROME: All right, so you’re not in a good place. You didn’t like it, he disrespected you and the sport and the fans. Is there some sort of punitive, is there a punishment that you’ve going to drop on him? Is this going to cost him for instance a shot against GSP?
DANA WHITE: Oh, I mean there’s, there’s nothing that I can really do to him financially. You know this thing, you know, he’s contracted to get paid and he gets paid, it’s just one of those unfortunate things that happens and you know, uh, I had the talk with him. I think personally I really believe that he was embarrassed by what happened that night. Maybe he did have a mental breakdown, I don’t know what happened in the ring, but all I can say is, I know his next opponent isn’t going to be a guy whose going to lay back and let him do stuff like that to him. Chael Sonnen’s going to take to him and hopefully we never see that again.
JIM ROME: Yeah, I would have thought…
DANA WHITE: I’m telling you right now. If he ever acts like that again in the ring, I will cut him. I don’t care if he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. I don’t care if he’s the Middleweight champion.
JIM ROME: You’ll fire him?
DANA WHITE: I will cut him, absolutely.
On Frankie Edgar:
JIM ROME: Frankie Edgar, I mean… in all your years in the UFC, have you ever seen a bigger upset than that one?
DANA WHITE: No, that was probably the biggest upset in UFC history. Especially, the kid was a 7-to-1 underdog. He’s small for that weight class, but let me tell you what… the reason I put Frankie, you know, everybody was talking about me making the decision, to put him in that position for the title instead of Gray Maynard. After Gray Maynard’s last fight with Nate Diaz, I didn’t think he looked ready. I thought Frankie Edgar was ready for a fight with BJ Penn and he proved it that night.
On Tito, Chuck, Franklin, and The Ultimate Fighter
JIM ROME: Dana, what happened to Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell? They were supposed to wrap up The Ultimate Fighter season and fight. It’s not happening. What happened?
DANA WHITE: Well, obviously, you know, something happened during the filming of the show and it’s one of those things that we can’t talk about so people are just going to have to tune in, watch The Ultimate Fighter, and see what happened between Tito and Chuck.
JIM ROME: Fans are upset, though, Dana, you know that. Were they in any way misled? Were they sold something, a bill of goods? Did you know it was going to happen and mislead them?
DANA WHITE: Did I… no. Were they sold a bill of goods? No. Before we made the fight up in Vancouver, you know, that it’s going to be Rich Franklin vs. Chuck Liddell… um… first day ticket sales, we released it and let them know what the fight was going to be. But as far as the reality show goes, I can’t tell you what happens on the reality show. And what happened was when people went in there to start tearing down the lighting equipment, one of the workers took a picture on the wall of Rich Franklin on the wall and then released it to the media, so the media starts asking questions. IT’S A REALITY SHOW! Guess what? We’re probably the most open, honest company in sports. You know we let the fans and media know everything. When we have a reality show where everything’s a secret, you’re going to have to watch it… guess what? You can’t know! And it’s not your privilege to know. And if people are upset with that, too bad.
JIM ROME: In a way, Dana, it’s kind of out of character. I get that you have a show to do, but it’s not like you not to shoot straight and answer that question.
DANA WHITE: True, but I can’t! It’s a reality show. This… first of all, Spike paid for this show. The show costs a lot of money to produce and for me to go out, you know, as open and as honest as I am, for me to go out and release this information, it’s insane. You can’t do it. It would be like finding out what happens on Survivor after they film it. It ruins, I guarantee you — there’s a lot of people out there that don’t want to know, you know, and the people who feel like they’ve been lied to, too bad. Get over it. It’s a reality show and uh… oh well.
On Fedor
JIM ROME: All right, Dana, what about Fedor? You and I have spoken about him in the past. Not only have you not been discouraged by not signing him, it’s become something of an obsession. Where does that stand?
DANA WHITE: Yeah, you know, listen… I, I… everybody that thinks that this guy is as good as he is, I want to find out too. I’m as big or a bigger fight fan than anybody that watches Mixed Martial Arts. So if somebody believes that this guy is possibly the best, which I personally do not think that he is one of the pound-for-pound best in the world, yes, he’s one of the best top heavyweights in the world. I want to find out how good he really is, but it takes two to make a deal. Not just one guy, not Dana, you got to get this done! Trust me, this has become an obsession. I’ve done everything in my power to try to make this deal happen.
