Dana White wants Sonnen-Silva rematch ASAP

HOUSTON -- UFC President Dana White's usual post-press-conference gathering with reporters took place late Saturday in Houston. Excerpts from the informal give-and-take with a small group of journalists:

Q: What was going through your mind when Chael Sonnen went on a spiel (about Anderson Silva)?

White: That's very Chael.

Those guys really don't like each other. Anderson, I don't know if any of you saw his face when (Chael) won, but he wasn't doing the whole joking around thing.

He (Silva) was (ticked) and he's really upset about the whole smacking his wife on the butt thing and cook him dinner. He's really upset about it. He's really (ticked) about it.

So you're making that fight then?

Probably, yeah. More than likely. I don't like to commit to anything the night of the fight, you know what I mean? But yeah, I'd be pretty (freaking) stupid if I don't make that fight.

So Dan Henderson would have to wipe out Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in two seconds or something like that next month to get a title shot?

If you look at the timing, we've had such a string of bad luck where guys get injured and things happen and all this stuff goes on. We know we can make this fight. How many fights have you seen Chael get injured and pull out? Pretty good (chance) if we make this fight, it's going to happen.

What do you want to see next from Frankie Edgar? Who fights him next?

I don't know. Honestly? I'd like to see him move to 145 and fight Aldo.

Give up the belt?

Yup.

What are the chances of that happening?

I don't know. Who knows? I'm not going to make him do it. How do you make a guy who's been so dominant at that weight class -- who am I to say, you can't stay here? You beat everybody in this division, it's a tough argument to have with him.

Does Melvin Guillard losing make the decision easier?

No, not really.

I agree with Lauzon. He came dancing in there like he won, like he just won the fight, instead of being serious.

I'm not taking anything from Lauzon. Lauzon fought awesome. It'd be one thing if it went to the ground and Lauzon submitted him. He rocked him twice and then submitted him.

I just think that kid doesn't have the focus that he needs. He's got all the talent and the skills.

Does Gilbert Melendez make the most sense as a No. 1 contender?

I don't want to get into all the Strikeforce (baloney) tonight? It's not really a clearcut choice. We're still in the middle of all that.

When you talked to us after the pre-fight presser, you said you had to speak to Lorenzo Fertitta.

Yeah and we did. Everything keeps getting pushed back a week, a week, a week. So we're waiting another week.

So no word on Showtime?

Yeah.

What's the hold-up?

Not me. This is what we do every day. This is the business that we're in. It's not us holding it up.

UFC 140, Rashad Evans was sort of guaranteed that title shot, and next thing you know, Lyoto Machida gets it. Can you talk about the process of that?

You've got to be able to fight. I knew he couldn't fight. I knew he couldn't take that fight. I knew he was hurt. He had the pins in his hand and it was going to take time.

Will you bring him into the cage again?

(chuckles) Probably not. I think everybody gets it now.

I've had some bad luck with bringing people into the cage. Wanderlei (Silva) and this guy and that guy. When it works out, it's good. When it doesn't, it doesn't. What are you going to do?

What are we going to see next for Kenny Florian?

That's up to Kenny. I really like Kenny and I have a lot of respect for him.

You get to a point. You were at '70. You were at '55. You moved to '45. You had two shots at '55.

He's accomplished a lot in this sport. He really has.

The thing about Kenny is, he's smart. He's talented. He's got other options. He's got things outside of fighting too. It's just one of those things he needs to sit down and really figure out on his own.

How would you compare this one to Florian's other title-fight performances?

I think he looked better in this one than he had in previous performances.

Again, I don't want to smash him with his last title shot and everything else. But he gets to a certain point where it's like, "Alright, I'm going to push against the cage. I'm just going to try to stay here."

But he came out in this fight, was shooting, was punching, was kicking.

Jose Aldo's a beast. He's been tearing through all these people and knocking them out and stopping them. Look what he did to Urijah Faber.

He didn't do it to Kenny Florian tonight. Kenny Florian went five rounds with him. I just think that when it's your last title shot and you know it, you go for (freaking) broke, man.

You know that there's so much time left on the clock. You know you've got five more minutes to finish it. You go guns a'blazing and you try to win that title.

Is Chad Mendes the next guy for Jose Aldo?

Pretty sure, yeah. We'll see, though. Anything's possible. Maybe Frankie calls me and says he wants to move to '45. I don't know. We'll see what happens.

What do you think when people say Aldo's cleaned out 145?

No way. That's why when they talk about him being top-three pound-for-pound, he's got a lot of work to do.

Same thing with Jones too. Jones is looking good. Jones destroyed 'Shogun,' he destroyed 'Rampage,' he looks phenomenal. But he's got a lot of work to do in that weight division.

Frankie Edgar has proven himself again and again.

If Florian does choose to hang it up, is there a role for him in UFC?

Absolutely. Kenny Florian's awesome. He commentated (at UFC 134). I think he's great on camera. I think he's great on the mike. Like I said, he's a talented guy with a lot of options.

He's always been a solid guy with us. He's always been a team player. I love Kenny Florian. … I have nothing but respect for him. Kenny Florian will be with us.

Is there a chance he could commentate the Japan show, hypothetically, if it does happen?

There's a lot of things that could happen with Kenny Florian.

What's your criteria for a stadium fight?

It's a gut. We kind of go with our gut and we've been right. We knew Toronto was going to be big, so we went for the big stadium there.

We (screwed) Brazil up last time we went there. We didn't nail that one, but we won't make that mistake twice.

But, for instance, what would be the difference between a stadium fight and Sonnen-Silva, which you said, at least for Super Bowl weekend, would not be a stadium fight?

I'm not saying that we couldn't do it. But if that happened Super Bowl weekend -- Super Bowl weekend in Vegas, for people that have never gone, is awesome.

So if you do another date for Sonnen-Silva, it theoretically could be a stadium bout?

It could be. I think it could be. I think that we could do a big, big venue for that one.

Do you think you'll make up your mind on a Sonnen-Silva fight relatively soon?

I've got to talk to Anderson. With his shoulder, he's got that bursitis problem right now. See that goes and figure out when both guys think they can be ready for it.

Chael's had some issues with California. I know Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and Chael seem to go back and forth. Does that play any role in how you're going to make this fight or where you're going to make this fight?

Hell no, dude. Let me tell you what: Chael has paid his dues; has done his thing; has done whatever.

Floyd Mayweather fights in Nevada. This guy's got 50 lawyers defending him right now and all that crazy stuff, and he's fighting in Nevada. Don't even get me going on that one.

So you've talked to Nevada and you know they'll license Chael?

There's no reason why they shouldn't license Chael. It shouldn't even cross my mind. The thought of whether Chael could get licensed in Nevada or California or anywhere else should be the least of my worries.

The guy did everything that he was told to do. When guys like Floyd are getting licensed in Nevada, why should I have to worry about Chael?

Were you surprised by the way he ran through Stann?

Yeah, I was surprised. I'm a huge believer in ring rust and he had zero tonight. Literally zero. He looked damn good.

What about taking UFC to Mexico?

I'd love to. I'd love to go there next weekend.

We've had a couple of tough countries. Mexico's been very tough and so has the U.K. For as long as we've been in the U.K.

But now with Cain Velasquez, people (in Mexico) are interested in the sport more than ever.

I agree. Go cut me a TV deal down there and I'll be right down.

Before the Edgar-Maynard fight started, who did you think was going to win?

I honestly had no idea.

What was crazy -- I'm sure you guys were saying the same thing -- that first round, I was like, "Holy (crap), it looks like we popped in a tape and played the first fight." It looked exactly the same. It was so crazy that that would happen again.

Toward the end there, it was looking like Frankie wasn't going to make it out of the first round. I thought he was going to get stopped in that first round. When the bell rang, I was like, "Holy (crap)."

And then the second round, I'm like, "What is Gray doing? He knows he just had him hurt." He literally didn't do anything in the first half of the second round and Frankie recovered.

I don't know if Gray gets in these situations where he goes so hard that first round that he gasses and has a had time in the second round. I don't know, but that's what it looked like to me.

Given Frankie's success, why would you prefer him to move down to 145?

Not just with Gray Maynard, but all these other guys that he fights, they're so much bigger than him.

It hasn't mattered though.

But fighting out of your weight class isn't healthy. I don't think it's healthy long term.

I don't think that guys that fight out of their weight and fight a weight class above them and take damage can have longevity that other fighters can have. You fight guys that are your own size, you don't take the punishment that you take when you fight bigger guys. T

The weight classes are there for a reason.

The winner of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament final between Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett...

I don't even want to talk about Strikeforce anymore. I don't even want to talk about it. Call (Strikeforce CEO Scott) Coker.

Would you work with Josh Barnett again in the future?

I saw Josh at the summit. We said hi, and you know (pause) hi. Whatever.

He used to be on your "Will never fight for me again" list. Is he still on that list?

It's funny how things work out that we end up buying the company that he's in.

I don't know. I don't even know how to answer that question.

What's the pound-for-pound case for Edgar over GSP?

First of all, GSP's got that horrible, horrible thumb sticking out there, the Matt Serra loss.

And I just think that Frankie's a 145-pounder walking through 155-pound guys. So when you really look at what pound-for-pound means, Frankie Edgar's pound-for-pound. He's the man.

Does Rashad Evans have the worst luck in the sport?

No doubt about it. I told him that. "Dude, you're the unluckiest guy I've ever met."

I imagine he's going to have to take another fight now. I can't imagine him sitting out again.

Depending on how timing and all the (stuff) works out, he will fight again. He wants to. He's like, "I'm not going to sit around and wait again."

Given that Machida's only coming off one win, what's the case for giving him a title shot?

You know what? Because Rashad couldn't.

I like what Jones (said). Jones said, "Listen, I've got to fight all these guys anyway. Machida's probably going to win again. This guy's going to win. I don't care. I'll fight him and then we'll fight Rashad next and then we'll fight whoever's next in line."

Plus, if Dan Henderson comes off this "Shogun" win, I actually think Dan Henderson wants to fight Anderson Silva more than he wants to fight for the 205 (belt). I'm sure he'll fight wherever. He doesn't give a (crap); this guy would go to heavyweight and fight again. But it seems to me like the fight that means more to Dan Henderson is the Anderson Silva fight.

In two weeks there'll be the fight between GSP and Condit. What do you want to see out of GSP to get back into that No. 2 spot pound-for-pound?

It's not about this pound-for-pound stuff. Georges St. Pierre has been a dominant champion. … He's the No. 1 pound-for-pound pay-per-view star in mixed martial arts. He's No. 1 by a long shot. That just tells you that people love him and people love to see him fight.

He's a great champion, in every sense of the world. He's a professional. He's always in shape. He does everything he's supposed to do. You couldn't meet a nicer guy. You couldn't ask for a better role model. You couldn't ask for a better representative of the sport.

He's the whole package.

Going into the UFC 129 fight between Randy Couture and Machida, did you think that could be a title-eliminator fight?

No. Did I think the winner of that one would be a contender for the title? No.

But Machida wanted to fight. He's been waiting to fight and wanting to fight. Machida was one or two wins away from being right back in the picture.
Source

Awesome! Thanx read the whole thing lol.

This is the only fight that makes sense at 185, Sonnen destroyed Stann, who is a excellent fighter. This is the fight everyone wants to see and any other fight at 185 would just make people upset...... except maybe Gecko.

Wow the interview is like a fuking fight.... No wonder Dana is always caught out saying shit .... when you look at the number of "gotcha" questions being fired at him and him trying to answer them honestly hes gotta fuck up sooner or later.

I like .... "I dont wanna talk about Strikeforce anymore ... go ask Coker" heh

Heh "I dont even know how to answer the Barnett question"

Krieger wrote:

Wow the interview is like a fuking fight.... No wonder Dana is always caught out saying shit .... when you look at the number of "gotcha" questions being fired at him and him trying to answer them honestly hes gotta fuck up sooner or later.

I like .... "I dont wanna talk about Strikeforce anymore ... go ask Coker" heh

Haha, this is spot on man. I was thinking the same thing while reading this.

Great read though!

Yeah it was a good interview ... but most are with Dana... I like when he gets pissed at the interviewers. heh

I am actually okay with soonen and silva cause i know soonen will be broke in half by the 3rd round via. knock out. I really dont think silva is the type of guy you want all pissed at you before a fight.

side note i never did get this whole pound for pound fighter crap either.

I don't see any reason for this fight not to happen ASAP other than Silva's apparent Shoulder Bursitis; Dana is totally right when he says this is the fight people want to see in the MW division.

There is honestly no other fighter I would consider for this fight other than Henderson, at one point I thought Jake Shields would be a good test for Silva seeing as he did beat Hendo; but I think he would get KTFO in reality!

Man, without hyping the fight, he sure is HYPING the fight!!
This man has the most genuine HATE I've seen in a long time, more so then Tito vs. Ken

Whats his reasons for the superbowl weekend?

Man I love Ariel Helwani,

"the largest Arm in Westland, Oregon." - LMAO (He's classic)

I watched this video earlier today, the reasoning for Superbowl weekend imo is obvious;
it is one of the biggest and craziest weekends of the years, especially in Vegas. The PPV buy
rates will be through the roof and Sonnen wants the largest crowd possible to see the most epic-ally hyped title fight in modern history.

Also its terrible how often he looks right into the camera for his dialog, reminds me of late 80's WWF.

That was a great interview and it was very reminiscent of 80's WWF, but thats ok with me.

I don't have a problem with the delivery, it just made me laugh and think of the old WWF style where the wrestler wouldn't even look at the interviewer at all and talk and taunt there opponent through the camera.

His "Jesse The Body" made me laugh as well.