Posted by Josh Nason
UFC president Dana White was his usual self at the post-Fight Night Boston press conference, hitting on everything from Culinary Union woes to Rampage vs. Tito to the possibility of signing Ben Askren and more.
Enjoy the 50+ minute scrum audio now. Apologies for the random noises as they were breaking down the press conference set as we were recording.
Approximate Time Stamp:
0:00 – 10:00: Dana talked about the Culinary Union issues and how it affected the Boston card. He said the union fight with Station Casinos is roughly over $10 million per year. He addresses whether that would affect a potential show in Maine. He also said what he would do if he ran Station Casinos. He said most of the attack videos used in Boston was focused on the past actions of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
10:00 – 13:00: He discussed the upcoming Jackson vs. Tito Ortiz PPV on Bellator, potential counterprogramming, how that press conference focused on him, his attitude toward Bellator including a few choice comments (“My video blog does more viewers than their TV show!”) and a reference to “Bjork”, aka Bjorn Rebney.
13:00 – He talks about Nick Diaz vs. Lyoto Machida and the possibility.
14:00 – What happens if Invicta goes to Showtime? Will that affect the UFC’s relationship with them? Will Ireland finally get a show and if so, when? What’s the possibility about South Africa?
15:00 – 19:00: Talks about the deal with Fox, getting TUF on FX, and the transition to Fox Sports 1. He goes into detail about the pre-Super Bowl show and why Fox would be interested in them doing that. He said he is going to the Patriots pre-season game, the Red Sox game and how to compete against ESPN.
19:00 – 23:00: Talked about the Ireland market, how everything starts with a TV deal, the possibility of Conor McGregor coaching on a future TUF Smashes show, reaching the Irish fans in Boston, and more.
23:00 – 25:00: He explains about what fights get Primetime, what happens if McGregor loses Saturday, and his involvement in the post-Boston bombing help effort.
25:00 – 29:00 He talked about how Ronda Rousey dealt with the recent retirement in two year talk, the Hollywood offers not paying what the UFC is paying, getting other female Olympians in MMA, how to deal with fans on Twitter.
29:00 – 35:00: Talks about Shogun’s chances going into Saturday, whether Demian Maia/Jake Shields is confirmed, his thoughts on the recent UFC World Tour, and the differences between Rua and Chuck Liddell regarding when it’s time to retire. Interesting that he disagreed that Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s Disease was brought on by fighting, even though Kevin Iole said Roach has said as much himself.
35:00 – 40:00: He admits Wanderlei Silva did turn down the Sonnen fight, whether he’s seen Fight Master, Brian Stann’s retirement, the Biogenesis scandal and whether the UFC should do more with proactive drug testing and more on Bellator/Viacom “not knowing what they’re doing”. Paul Daley comes up…again. He is also asked about whether a non-Zuffa fighter could ever make it into the UFC Hall of Fame.
40:00 – 45:00: Dana talks about production changes, Eric Shanks’ opinion on this season of TUF so far, bringing a show to Maine, and how Ronda comes off on TUF, and Urijah Faber wanting superfights.
45:00 – end: Dana on the ‘Face The Pain’ song, Dominic Cruz’s future, travel plans down to Foxboro for the Patriots game, what other main events were considered for FS1 and more.
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