Yahoo Sports Interviews Dana White - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

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.

bayouboy · 08-22-2007, 09:14 AM

So it obvious that Dana only keeps Tito around because he helps sell tickets. That is true for all fighters but specifically in Tito's case he is more that guy you love to hate instead of you can't wait to watch him fight. I still don't think it's a good idea for Dana to publicly put Tito down.

As far as the last statement. Yes you now have MOST of the top talent in the world. You are still missing one obvious piece.

My GnP is Sick · 08-22-2007, 10:07 AM

I liked those questions and awnsers. I agree Dana should not put down any of his talent, espcially the one's making him tons of money, I don't care about his personal feelings towards them.

Xenofreak · 08-22-2007, 02:08 PM

I think this reporter is with almost all his questions right but not about tito!
In my opinion there are about as many people that hate tito as they are that love tito. So everytime he fights you got the croud mixed up. And that is what you want! That sells, that is what get the croud standig.

The comment about pride from Dana.. Blergh he should re-open pride! It sells, it is superb.. And fans love it! I really still not seeing what kind off money he got in return with his action to buy pride. And the fight wandy crocop was a world class fight to! I don't think i would have wanted to see liddel-wandy more then i wanted to see wandy-crocop so, i disagree with that point!

And Jardine sucks, it wil probely end up like the SOBRAL fight.. Boring..

I like a lot off moves Dana does, but sometimes he just talks crap.

lambo84 · 08-22-2007, 02:14 PM

no one is doubting that Tito has fans, it's a well known fact that he sells tickets, that's the only reason he is still around. What they are speculating at is why people like him. Other than his fight against forrest griffin (which I believe he lost) he hasn't beaten anyone in quite some time.

Tito may have some colorful matches to come, but he will never again hold the belt and I seriously doubt he will even be a serious contender.

mxfuel · 08-22-2007, 02:23 PM

I still don't know if I think Kos should have a title fight over Karo Pariysan but if he beats GSP than I guess he should get a shot at the title.

Heatwaves · 08-22-2007, 02:25 PM

Interesting interview. Thanks for posting it, lambo.

I found it surprising that Dana says that he thinks he now has all the top talent with so many great ones still out there, Fedor, Barnett and on and on.

OneTwoPunch · 08-22-2007, 02:33 PM

Why are they holding back Arlovski? It's not like he lost against Werdum, he just had a boring win. Dana is right that he is a top guy, but he shouldn't drop in the rankings for winning.

asronn · 08-22-2007, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneTwoPunch

Why are they holding back Arlovski? It's not like he lost against Werdum, he just had a boring win. Dana is right that he is a top guy, but he shouldn't drop in the rankings for winning.

Are we sure he is being held back? There really is only one title and we knew Crocop was up next but GG spoiled his party. Now Dana has got to be terrified. If Randy wins he can sell Randy/Mirco or Randy/Nog. Possibly even Randy/Fedor. Wich leaves no top guy for Arlovski to fight. He can't risk Big Nog losing the way Mirko lost. These are all legendary fights we are talking about. If GG wins I'm sure Arlovski jumps right back into the title hunt. Nat that I want to see him fight after his last 3. I can deal with a boring fighter but Arlovski is supposed to be an aggressive striker. He is too afraid of losing to desrve a title shot imo

IrishRage · 08-22-2007, 10:19 PM

He avoided the why did Matt hughes get a rematch so fast part LOL but other then that It was a nice read for sure.

riversideblues · 08-23-2007, 01:20 PM

This arcticle is awesome, there's at least 7 questions in there I would have asked, so it's nice to even get them at least halfanswered