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lambo84 · 08-22-2007, 09:04 AM

Yahoo! Sports Q & A: Dana White - MMA/Boxing - Yahoo! Sports

A couple of interesting quotes I pulled from the article

Quote:

CROWDED WELTERWEIGHTS

First off Dana, I'd like to thank you for giving us some the best fights we've ever seen. People can say what they want, but that's the reason the UFC is what it is today. With the welterweight division so crowded with talent, how will you ensure the best fighters get title shots? When will guys like Josh Koscheck, Georges St. Pierre, Diego Sanchez, Matt Hughes, and Karo Pariysan get a turn? Thank you. Aaron Smiley
Turlock, CA

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DW: Hughes will fight Serra for the title in December after Season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter has aired. The winner of St. Pierre and Koscheck on Saturday is next in line to get at title shot. Those other guys are good fighters and they're in the mix. I'd rather have too many good guys than not enough. It's a nice problem. They sort themselves out because when guys fight each other, they determine who deserves the title shot, not me.

TITO IS SHOT

Why would you consider re-signing Tito Ortiz? He has negligible submission skills, questionable stand-up skills, his ground-and-pound style is boring for the casual fan and worst of all, he's not able to compete at a world-class level any more. He barely squeaked by with a victory over Forrest Griffin, he drew with Rashad Evens, was badly beaten by Chuck Liddell and chickened out on a boxing match with you.

Please use the money you would offer to Tito to sign Fedor Emelianenko. Emmanuel S.

DW: Did I write this question? It sounds like I must have submitted this question myself or you are reading my mind. I don't disagree with anything you said. There are a lot of fans who still like Tito, but I wouldn’t disagree with your assessment of him. I think you really hit the nail on the head, but the reality is, even saying that, there are a lot of Tito fans out there. Why, I have no (expletive) idea, but they're there. I'll be curious to see his rematch with Rashad. Will Tito Ortiz win a world title again? Probably not, but he still has a couple of interesting fights out there.

WHAT ABOUT ARLOVSKI?

Andrei Arlovski has been lowered in the rankings and lost a shot at the title due to a lackluster performance against Fabricio Werdum. Why then was Matt Hughes after a poor performance against Chris Lytle granted a welterweight division title shot against Matt Serra when the division is obviously stacked with contenders? Will this extended period of waiting in a stacked division happen again?

Tim Atnip
Oklahoma City

DW: I'm not keeping Andrei Arlovski down, believe me. He's one of the top heavyweights in the world. I like Arlovski. I'm not sure when he's fighting again, but he's going to be out there. He's a top, top guy and he'll get his turn, but like I said before, there's only one title. I said I wanted to get all of the best guys and I'm doing that and when you do that, some guys don't get a title shot as fast as maybe they would like or their fans would like.

WHY JARDINE?

How can you possibly think Keith Jardine is a good fight for Chuck Liddell? Jardine’s last fight was a joke. He is not even in Chuck’s class. Don't Chuck and the fans deserve better?

Steven J. McSweeney
Glen Ellyn, IL

DW: I don't get this thinking. I really don't. Chuck Liddell and Keith Jardine are both coming off first-round knockout losses. Keith Jardine knocked out Forrest Griffin in the first round. Forrest went the distance with Tito and many people think he beat Tito, so how do you think Keith doesn't deserve this fight? Be sensible and look what he's done.

FORKED TONGUE

A few months ago you were writing Wanderlei Silva off because he "just got destroyed by Cro Cop" (in your words) but now you say his signing is the pinnacle of your seven-year UFC career. How do you reconcile all you said about Wanderlei, where you basically implied it's not worth it to put together a Silva vs. Liddell match after Silva's knockout loss to Cro Cop, with your comments after he signed with the UFC?

Shaun Haines

DW: I was pissed off when he lost to Cro Cop because Pride destroyed what would have been the biggest fight in MMA history. I was trying to make that fight for years and instead of them making it when he and Chuck both had titles and both had been undefeated for a long time, they let him fight in a fight that did no business and they got him knocked out. I was legitimately upset because they ruined a mega-fight. I said it's the pinnacle because I said I wanted all the top talent in the UFC and I think now, we pretty much have it.

I kinda agree with Dana about the Jardine thing now looking back into it. He really wasn't far from a title shot before he got KOed by Houston.