White: Nog should retire, and Jones phone was hacked
“He’s one of the most respected fighters in the world…” said Dana White. “And now I’m going to say, ‘Big Nog, I love you, but I’d love you to never fight again.'”
Former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira started fighting in 1999 and was never finished a single time in his first 37 fights. Not even Fedor could do it. But the fights took a toll, and he was not the same man when he entered the UFC in 2007. “Big Nog” has had nine fights in the UFC, and was finished in five of them.
Fans love Big Nog. But sometimes in fighting, there comes a time when you love a fighter so much, you don’t want to see him fight again.
At the TUF Nations Finale post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said he wants Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to retire.
As soon as he got knocked out I was getting blown up by media guys saying, ‘What do you want to do?’,” said White as transcribed by Mike Chiappetta for FOX Sports. “But out of respect for Nogueira I didn’t want to say anything until he said something publicly. Then he came out and said he wants to fight Frank Mir. I don’t want to see Nogueira fight ever again. He should retire.
“He is a war horse. That guy has been in — just the battles in PRIDE he’s been in — let alone the fights that he’s fought in the UFC. He’s one of the most respected fighters in the world by other fighters, let alone by fans. And I like him very much, too, so I wanted to give him the opportunity to say something first.”
I’ve been in this position a million times. I wanted to give him the opportunity to say something first, but now I’m going to say ‘Big Nog, I love you, but I’d love you to never fight again.’
White also addressed the unfortunate posts that appeared on Jon Jones Instagram account on Tuesday.
“He got hacked,” said White. “Originally when I found out he was saying he was being hacked, I was like, what, are we all going to say stupid stuff and then say [we were hacked]? If you look at his timeline he rarely ever posts anything or responds on Instagram. He got hacked. It happened. They got in there, they changed his password. Like 11 people had his password that surrounded him. We got that squashed and taken care of.”
