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Dana White: Fedor hasn’t “fought anybody since the late 90s” and isn’t a top Heavyweight. Plus, “nobody cares about Tim Sylvia.”
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
Dana White appeared on The Daily Line on Monday night, right after the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens. The show airs on Versus every night.
It was a round-table discussion format. I wasn’t expecting much to come out of it, but much like Manny Ramirez does “Manny being Manny” Dana White sometimes does “Dana being Dana” and it results in some statements that always get a rise out of people.
You will notice the money quotes as you read the transcript. And I expect you to comment on them. Do work, people.
UFC Undisputed 2010 seems like a totally different game from last year’s version.
“I’m blown away by it, by how many changes they’ve made in a year. The head movement, you know, you can slip side to side, you can roll under punches, you can lean back from kicks and punches and counterpunch. They didn’t have southpaw last year, now the guys who are southpaw are southpaw which is a good thing. And you can actually switch to southpaw. They got career mode and game mode and all different types of mode. They got more fighters. They’ve done a lot of work in one year and you know people love the game when it first came out. They’re going to really like it now.
“They got the ring card girls. Absolutely. The real ones. Yeah, very important that the ring card girls are in there.”
Right now, the fight odds for the UFC 114 main event between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans are even, which is surprising because of everything that Rampage has been through in the last year. Is this fight the best thing for Rampage?
“I think it’s the best thing that could have ever happened to him because it’s very motivating for him. He’s traditionally known for not liking to train, we’ll he’s been training for this because of all the smack talk, how bad he hates Rashad Evans. He’s been very motivated for this fight.
“It’s always exciting if you got two of the best in the world, these guys are two top five Light Heavyweights, always exciting when two of the best in the world fight, but when they hate it each other, it makes it even that much better.”
We know that styles make fights. Which fighter in the UFC 114 main event would give Mauricio Shogun a tougher fight?
“It’s interesting because these guys have similar styles. You know they’re both good wrestlers. Both powerful punchers. The only thing, you know, the edge I give Rashad, Rashad has speed, he’s very athletic, explosive, you know he’s more an athlete than Rampage is, but on Rampage’s side you got to go with power, determination, and an incredible chin. If you look back to the fights with Wanderlei (Silva) back in PRIDE when really Rampage knew nothing and he you see how many of those knees he took before he actually went down and wasn’t knocked out. Rampage Jackson has an incredible chin and is a very durable guy.”
A lot of the PRIDE guys who came to UFC came in as fighters who took a lot of punishment in their career. What about Rampage?
“No. Rampage was a baby when he was over fighting in PRIDE, you know. He’s still got a lot of learn. He’s… he’s now I call him a season veteran and he’s still in his prime and he’s mean and nasty, man. I don’t know if you guys have been watching Primetime, but he’s the meanest I’ve ever seen him. Rampage has always, you know, they talk about Quinton and they talk about Rampage… he claims he has these two personalities that come out. Well, I’ve met more Rampage than I’ve met with Quinton over the time that I’ve known him and he’s definitely in Rampage mode right now.”
I heard on The Dan Patrick Radio Show that you were talking about MMA becoming an Olympic sport.
“I’m not looking to do it. I said I think it’s going to happen. I hope its happen in my lifetime. I know what I’ve set out to achieve and what my job is in Mixed Martial Arts. That’s not it. Somebody else is going to have to do that. But I don’t see why it shouldn’t be. First of all, you know, Tae Kwon Do is an Olympic sport. Judo is an Olympic sport. They can do submissions and everything else. Wrestling is an Olympic sport and boxing is an Olympic sport and that’s basically what Mixed Martial Arts. Why should it not be an Olympic sport?”
Has your opinion changed lately on who is the pound-for-pound best fighter in MMA?
(On Fedor) “Yeah, it’s actually gotten worse. Anybody who considers you know the Russian to be the pound-for-pound, first of all again, for him to even be in the Top Heavyweights is insane. This guy hasn’t fought anybody since the late 90s! In the UFC these guys consistently fight the best three times a year. I think that, you know, most of these Mixed Martial Arts web sites don’t even know what pound-for-pound really means. Yes, Anderson Silva should be there. Yes, Georges St. Pierre should be there. Yes, BJ Penn should be there. Frankie Edgar. You know those guys. Aldo, absolutely, you can even argue (Jose) Aldo in the Top 3.”
So what’s your Top 5 list in order then?
“Yeah, I would say Anderson…. Georges…. I’d have to put BJ in there… BJ is definitely in the Top 5. Frankie Edgar and Aldo. I’d make those guys probably the top five pound-for-pound.”
Why won’t you include Fedor?
“He doesn’t fall into the pound-for-pound! How the hell can a guy who hasn’t fought anybody since the late 90s fall in the pound-for-pound category? You know, I’d like to know really where his place is in the heavyweights.”
(A host chimes in and says that Fedor has to prove himself.)
“Yeah, I mean, think about him right now. He hasn’t fought Brock Lesnar. He hasn’t fought Shane Carwin. He hasn’t even fought Frank Mir or any of the top heavyweights, you know, you got (Junior) dos Santos out there now. You’ve got, I mean there’s so many guys out there that are nasty in that heavyweight division. It’s crazy.”
What did you think of the Tim Sylvia/Mariusz Pudzianowski fight?
“Who cares? Know what I mean? Nobody cares about Tim Sylvia and he beat up some big muscle guy from somewhere.”
(A host chimes in and says, “He said he was back. I don’t know back from where. Back from McDonalds, but he said he was back.”
“True! Back from McDonalds beating up some big muscle dude. I mean, c’mon. Come on.”
I think that’s a message from the UFC to Tim that Strikeforce is the only place he might have a shot in 2011.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is Dana so down on Fedor because he could not sign him?I think that if he REALLY felt this way, he would not have said that he wanted Fedor in the UFC as much as we do.
zach, you’ve been on fire lately, it’s getting hard to follow all of the articles that you put out.
dana’s waffling on fedor is tiring. you know in the back he is trying to sign him up. didn’t we read recently that it had become his “obsession”?
i think rampage is too good for rashad. especially if it goes to a third round, rashad will gas like he always does.
so I guess Fedor beating UFC fighters Cro Cop, and Nogueira twice between 2003-2005 never happened then hey.
This guy is just bitter Fedor never signed with the UFC.
Why is anybody taking White’s comment seriously?
UFC Undisputed is not like a brand new game. It has a LOT of small changes that add up to a much better gaming experience. But the mechanics are still basically the same.
“Why is anybody taking White’s comment seriously?”
Amen. But unfortunately in the realm of the casual fan and the mainstream media that doesn’t know much about the sport, those talking points get repeated (esp. coming from the “Godfather” of the sport in N/A) and it starts getting taken as gospel.
Dana is about as credible as Don King.
That’s funny, I thought Fedor’s first MMA fight was in 2000. Maybe Dana should’ve said “he hasn’t fought anybody in the late ’90s”, that would be more of a correct statement. He can’t even get his insults right, what a douche…
Currently people are lining up in droves to prove their ignorance under the spotlight. The reason why Dana seems more ignorant than your average person is because the spotlight is always on him. Sadly for many people, he is an example to shoot for.
ufc2010 isa game i wont be getting. i traded in 09 and 2010 stii has the flaws of 09.
So what are some more judgements on the new UFC game? I have 09. Should I get 10?
[…] know what Dana White thinks about Fedor Emelianenko and who he has in his pound-for-pound list: “Yeah, I would say Anderson (Silva)…. Georges (St. Pierre)…. I’d have to put BJ (Penn) in […]