Dana White on Setanta Sports; Confirms Some Rumors, Dispells Others
Posted by Justin H on Feb 20, 2009 at 4:00 pm ET47 Comments
This morning UFC President Dana White appeared on Setanta Sports, to promote tomorrow’s UFC 95, as well as talk about some of the recent announcements coming out of the UFC and some of the upcoming events. You can follow the above link to the Setanta site to view the full video, but some of the key quotes, and points made were:
- “There isn’t a place on earth that I couldn’t get a fighter from, that’s how popular (MMA) is getting right now”
- “Within the next ten years this will be the biggest sport in the world; bigger than American Football, bigger than soccer, bigger than anything.”
- UFC 100 will include GSP vs. Alves
- All five belts will not be on the line at UFC 100 (thankfully), but there will be three major fights on the card.
- Bisping vs. Henderson is on tap for UFC 100, with a title shot to take place in the UK on the line.
- There will be another title on the line at UFC 100. (Expected to be Rashad Evans vs. Jackson/Machida)
- BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian is likely for UFC 99 in Germany.
- The UFC is in talks to get CroCop on the Germany card.
- Wanderlei Silva is likely for the Germany card (as rumored) but nothing is official yet.
- Lesnar vs. Mir 2 is definitely planned for May.
- Machida’s wait for a title shot will end “this summer”.
- A WEC card in the UK is likely in the future.
- “We’re going into Germany, we’re going into France, we’re going to Dubai, we’re taking this thing to all these different countries and its happening very quickly. We’re in 175 different countries right now on television.”
- The UFC is still pursuing Fedor, but whether he will ever fight for them is up to Fedor.
Tags: Dana White
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Nice updates. It would be cool to see Fedor vs Lesnar but we all know how that would end.
Just like we all knew how GSP vs. Serra 1 would end…
Well, we already saw that Lesnar, because of lack of experience, can be prone to getting submitted. You are correct, Lesnar still does have a puncher’s chance but in all likelyhood, he will not win.
My point is, don’t say, “We all know how that would end.” For two reasons, 1. People may think Lesnar would have more than just a punchers chance, and 2. No one “knows” how it will end, everyone can speculate on what the most likely outcome may be, but no one truly knows.
if they fought now fedor wins, if they fight at the end of the year or in the next few years Lesnar wins. Believe me the guy has all the tools and he’s only getting better where as Fedor, well where else does he go as far as skill wise. I believe Fedor is the best Hwt in the world now and of all time but sooner or later he’s going to start falling off. The longer that a Fedor-Lesnar fight is put off the more Lesnar’s chances of winning rise.
Also though lets see wether Mir keeps improving, if he keeps adding more and more to his game, we may be talking about Mir-Fedor.
Justin, just my opinion of the situation and the out come of said event. Chris, I agree with the last two sentences of your post but I disagree with your point that if they fought at the end of the year Lesnar would definitely win. He is still very new in the sport and needs more than one year of experience and training to make the transition to the level needed to beat Fedor.
No, he has a chance of beating Fedor now,. Fedor isn’t some unstoppable beast. He’s been stopped before, he will be stopped again. This whole “_____ can’t beat Fedor” mantra is pure crap and shows a lack of any sort of thought on the part of the speaker.
etherbunny- guys fight up or down to the level of competition and after Barnett(which may or may not happen) who else does fedor have to push him? Lesnar has other guys gunning for him if for no other reason than they think he is too cocky. Velasquez, Carwin, Gonzaga, Mir, Big Nog, even Randy if he wanted to, and the (no pun intended) darkhorse Kongo are all gunning for that title. That said Lesnar will be pushed just that much harder to get better. Fedor really has no one pushing him in Affliction or outside the UFC after KOing Arlovski. So basically, don’t count Lesnar out because he’s being pushed harder than Fedor is right now.
I love Mir, but I can honestly see Lesnar bullying him around the octagon. No one thought he had a shot against Randy.
Yup, Lesnar will definitely use his size as an advantage to control the tempo of the fight. The key for Mir is to take note of what Machida does and try to stay elusive, use good head movement and know how to cut in and out when he goes in for a combo. Being trapped underneath Lesnar would be a bad situation for Mir once again because of Lesnar’s strength and size. I would love to see Mir win but IMO, it’s too close to call right now.
i would pick lesnar over mir
and lesnar over fedor
Agreed, AA was picking Fedor apart on the feet (stupid flying knee) and Lesnar has lunch boxes for hands stated by Couture. Lesnar could easily hold Fedor down and LnP or GnP like the Herring fight.
HAHA…lunch boxes.
Arlovski’s knee came 1.5 seconds too late. If he takes off when Fedor is on his way back into the ropes, Fedor ends up unconscious and out of the ring.
Ohhh dbiz, I wish that would have happened!!
willyd, fat chance of lesner being able to successfully laynpray against fedor, he would get submitted. I also think the wrestling advantage that people think he would over fedor would be negated with fedor’s judo and his ridiculous body control.
jb,
Not to say that Fedor doesn’t have ridiculous body control… but Matt Lindland would have had Fedor on his back if it weren’t for Fedor’s ridiculous rope grabbing, and I believe Lesnar would have even better success at that than Lindland, considering the size and strength advantage.
Fedor got lucky against AA with the right hand, he has only fought twice a year since 2005, and has no competition left in Affliction. Barnett won’t fight him cause they are buddies. Fedor fights 230-235lbs, Lesnar 280-285lbs, he can hold Fedor down. I have never seen Fedor in person, but I did see Lesnar in his WWE days when WrestleMania was in Seattle. The man is huge! He handled Couture rather easily and when fight time comes, he would do the same with Fedor.
In order to submit someone, you would have to (usually) get them on the ground. While Lesnar got careless in their first encounter, make no mistake: he is studying diligently on how to avoid a submission. If Lesnsr knocks Mir down, don’t expect Lesnar to just jump on him.
Yeah, I agree. Lesnar looked very patient against Randy. I don’t expect him to get excited and careless again.
What do you think would come of a Fedor/Lesnar match?
This would be a very interesting match and would, like Chris L said above, would be dependent on when this match took place. If it took place in the near future (next two years) I would give it to Fedor by submission. His ground game is incredibly sick. It seems as though he can submit his opponents at will sometimes. If it occured after that time period I would give it to Lesnar. I honestly can not see Fedor being stopped by Lesnar so I would assume that Lesnar would grind it out to a decision.
I would like to see Arlovski vs Lesnar. Should be a slug fest.
I think it would be Arlovski trying to box for about 20 seconds, then Lesnar would land one of his sledgehammers disguised as fists to Arlovski’s glass jaw and it would be over.
ARVLOSKI BY KNOCKOUT!!
Oh yeah, I agree. Lesnar by KO, round 1. Not TKO. Like a hard right hook and Arliovski pulls a Wanderlei (or Chuck, sniff sniff)…..just out.
cool can’t wait for ufc 100 card to be finalized, i hope mir will catch him again he’ll do good on the feet he has improved boxing alot. right now i think lesnar would lost to fedor in a year as long as lesnar inproves his skills he’ll win. Lesnar as a very good career ahead of him.
Nightmare no offense, but half the time I have no idea what you are saying? I’m guessing you want Mir to win, right now Fedor would beat Lesnar, but in a year Lesnar would win?
ya i want mir to beat lesnar.
and i say fedor would beat lesnar now is because lesnar isn’t experienced enough thaats why i say after a year of more experience he would have a good chance.
he(lesnar)*
Hopefully I will be in person at the event in May…. I would like to see Mir pull a sub again, but Lesnar is not just sitting ideally by picking his nose or whatever the guy is training and if Mir doesnt come with his A+ game it will go in favor of Lesnar.. I really want to see Randy v Big Nog, hell ive always wanted to see that match~up..
UFC being bigger that football (soccer), um no.. Yet I can see how the President of ZUFFA can say such things.. Going to Dubai wow ok whynot sounds good..
Penn v KenFlo @ 99 is fantastic that should be a war, and having Wanderlei v possibly Ace on that card add in the return possibly of CC shhhit ya im down for that
UFC 100 sounds wonderful to me, Rashad putting up his belt and The Greatness v The Pitbull add in Hendo and Bisbing, what other company could even think of doing these great cards (im waiting for DbiZ to answer that question personally)
Lesnar v AA = Lesnar v Heath Herring imo
Fedor v Lesnar = Big Nog v Bob Sapp imo
Justin v Turk = BJ Penn v Caol Uno imo
I do hope Fedor’s handlers will allow him to sign for the UFC and Dana has already stated if he does sign he will get an immediate shot at the champ whomever that would be
Machida having to wait for his shot well unless Jardine beats Rampage then ofcourse he would get a shot @ UFC 100
good comparisons but i really think:
Fedor v Lesnar = Fedor v Sylvia imo
I still think Fedor would be in Lesnars head. Huge + Powerful doesnt always mean you can beat the best in the business, all it means is that you might have a chance.
I dont think that a jumping biotch slap would drop Lesnar like it did Timmeehh, now ofcourse im being sarcastic on the slap part but I do think that Lesnar would last longer that 36seconds v Fedor…
agreed.
I understand all the fedor hype but the only way fedor can win is by sub…..Like him or not lesnar has a granite chin-randy hit him with some real good shots and they didnt even fase him……Fedor has great judo and sambo but not in a million years could fedor get brock on the ground brock is to big and to strong…..fedor has never fought a combination like brock….great chin,increasingly better hands, best wrestling in the hw divsion(tied with gsp imo for best wrestling in mma)…..hes huge, muscular and quite possibly the strogest guy in mma…fedor would not be able to get lesnar down to the ground and he wouldnt ko lesnar….lesnar is to big to ever be armbarred imo his shoulders are so broad i couldnt see little fedor getting enough leverage on him and even if he did…any sub thats not on the leg lesnar would pick you up and slam fedor worse than rampage…lesnar would probably kill a man if he slammed them……alot of brocks partners say his shoulders are to huge to be armbarred, hes to strong to get leverage for a keylock,kimura, his neck and trap muscles are also to big for anyone to get any choke on him and fedor isnt good at pulling leg locks so i really cant see fedor winning, and no im not a brock fan just a guy who has realized that if mir loses to brock the second time around which i think he will that brock is pretty much unstoppable!……the only people who i think could one day beat lesnar are
bobby lashley- just as big as brock, just as good of a wrestler and has ben training mma for about 2 years, a perfect matchup so even
shane carwin- about the same size, bigger hands than brock, better hands than brock good match up….if carwin beats gonzaga rumor is that carwin will face the lesnar/mir 2 winner for the title or at least he’ll be the #1 contender
overeem/kongo- neither have a ground game that could stop brock or get him down but- imo the best two strikers at heavyweight and I think the only guys who could maybe actually ko him
“bobby lashley- just as big as brock, just as good of a wrestler and has ben training mma for about 2 years, a perfect matchup so even”
How do you think the undertaker would fare? How about Coco B. Ware?
gpnzaga to knockout carwin!
lesnar could be totaly armbared by fedor
you’re right Fedor COULD armbar anyone and win in SAMBO, as a matter of fact it takes less extension to cause more pain/damage to someone who is physically bigger. That said this is MMA and if Lesnar learns even the basic defense against an armbar(locking your hands and stacking the person to keep them from using their hips) he is in the perfect position for a monster slam. Granted slamming doesn’t always work ask Kevin Randleman(thought Fedor would be out cold) and technically Matt Hughes(I still maintain Newton deserved a no contest at the least), but in an armbar it causes big issue for the guy going for it. At least with a triangle it can tighten the triangle after a hard slam but w/ an armbar it’s extremely hard to hold on.
Gonzaga could KO carwin but Gonzaga’s takedown defense would be the key in that match-up.
really wish they would stay out of Dubai – it’s an ass-backward **** hole of oppression. Does Dana hate gay people? I’m not but really it is a horrible place – money cannot buy everything…..
Wow alot of you guys are on the brock lesner bandwagon now!!!
Man please the dude is human , yeah he is huge but that does not equal an win over Fedor at all.
It’s called skill, even if Brock is training hard, so was AA, so was Timmmeh!!!!
No amount of Practice or Training can prepare you to being punched in the face with 5 oz gloves by a champion of Fedor caliber nor any amount of bjj practice or training to totally negate Fedor skill in sambo and bjj.
NOW Fedor isn’t invinsible either as AA WAS proving but at the same time be ready to deal with stupid or careless mistakes that Fedor capitalizes on so well. Brock aint ready, HE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AT THIS POINT HAS A PUNCHERS CHANCE……
i agree with this guy
not jumping on a band wagon, as a SAMBO practitioner I’m a big fan of Fedor but the man is a man and with out anyone pushing him, he could get complacent. Even IF the Barnett fight materializes (which until they are both in the ring and the ref says go I won’t believe it will happen), he’s fighting a guy whose been his friend for years. There is no one really to push him at all. Lesnar is only going to get better in the cage and w/o other quality people coming after him, even the best(fedor) can weaken. That said Lesnar still has to beat an improving Mir otherwise the talk is pointless. The only reason Fedor could struggle w/ Lesnar is the fact that Lesnar has the combination of athleticism and size that most fighters don’t possess. Like I said above the longer that match up is put off the greater Lesnar’s chances of winning increase due to increased experience.
As for Sylvia and Arlovski vs Fedor:
AA- has a glass jaw(as much as that pains me to say it) and mistimed that knee badly. As much as people want a rematch, it’s pointless to want it b/c if AA stays true to how he’s fought in recent years he will come out and be too hesitant and it’d be a boring fight.
Sylvia- Did anyone really believe he had any chance at stopping Fedor? If you did jump out a window. Even when he looked like he turned the corner, he didn’t possess any one skill that made him look like he could be remotely on Fedor’s planet.
yes, but he has more of a chance then anyone else at this point! by a lot! imo
Dbiz.. to quote you.. “Shoulda, woulda, coulda, he still lost.”
Fedor pwnz haters be feared
In a perfect world UFC would be able to sign Fedor and Cro-cop and have them debut together at UFC 99. But Fedor debuting in the UFC might be something they would save for UFC 100. Regardless, I really hope Mirko gets back on track and proves everyone calling him “washed up” wrong. Would be even better to see him come back and get some revenge on Gonzaga. But, I think he could really do damage by dropping to the 205 weight class. Cant wait to see him back and fighting at 100%. I had read somewhere that he would like to be a free agent so he could fight for multiple promotions and get in around six fights a year. But I don’t think UFC would go for that. Having fighters exclusively fight for one promotion under contracts is just good business.
As was mentioned earlier, fedor isn’t getting pushed as hard as brock. Brock is a beast. hes huge. fedor has always looked like a common guy thats like “oh I guess I will fight, and after ill drink some beer and watch t.v.” he just looks like he isn’t interested in fighting, however he is one of the top heavyweights in the world. He isn’t number one in my eyes until he fights legit opponents. he fought AA and timmy when they were on the downhill of their career. AA was picking fedor apart with his boxing, and had it not been for his glass jaw he would have outpointed fedor. fedor was losing the first round.
As far as brock is concerned his loss to mir was bs. I say this because there have been recent fights that the refs have stopped with less punches when the guy is down. brock landed like 30 hammerfists on mir and mir looked like he was out when he was getting popped. had brock been patient he would not have gotten kneebarred. mir knows he got beasted. brock was very patient in the fight with randy, and he will have to be the same way with mir, because mir’s subs are great.
As far as a brock vs. fedor fight, I give the advantage to brock unless the fight would happen in a ring instead of the octagon. fedor has not been in an octagon, it is different and affects your fighting, just ask hendo and cro cop. fedor hasnt faced a guy who is that big and powerful and quick. Brock has about 40 pounds of muscle on fedor and at the very least he will do what he did to herring and basically lay on fedor to control the fight.
Hopefully machida can get a title shot vs. evans. I see machida as the only guy in 205 that can beat evans. evans has amazing ko power, and we all saw the evans vs. chuck fight. If anyone wants to stand and throw with evans they will get ko’d. machida destroyed thiago silva, he is elusive. I hope if they do fight, machida submits evans. evans is just too damn cocky. I hate that in a fighter.
GSp vs. the pitbull would be a great fight, the pit has a decent chance against gsp. bj will lose to kenny, and then he will claim that gsp put vaseline all over kenny and thats why he got destroyed again. wandy and ace is not a good fight, wandy will ko ace in the 2nd.