UFC president Dana White did a 14 minute interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting today and covered a whole bunch of topics. He started off by talking about the UFC 161 main eventers, Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson. Could Rashad move to 185 if he loses? White says he won’t know until he sees the fight.
He moves onto Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165, and why Lyoto Machida didn’t get that fight. White basically said that it was because of what Jones had to say. He has already beaten Machida and hadn’t fought Gustafsson, and that’s the fight he wanted.
The topic moved to co-main eventer Roy Nelson. Helwani said it was supposed to be Nelson vs. Daniel Cormier at UFC 161, but Cormier couldn’t get medically cleared so Stipe Miocic got the fight instead. Dana used the opening to talk about free agency in MMA, specifically Quinton Jackson going to Bellator. Nelson’s contract apparently expires in July and they asked for an extension to get him a fight. Nelson said no, but he did take the fight on this card, and White referred to him as a “stand up guy” for doing that. He did confirm that Nelson is a free agent after this fight, and they’ll likely offer him a contract.
Speaking of Cormier, apparently he said that he wanted to kick Roy Nelson’s ass for Dana White, to which Nelson called Cormier an “Uncle Tom”. This made Dana laugh, and he got back to calling Roy an idiot.
Next, Helwani asked him about Jon Fitch and Rampage leaving and their comments, and Dana basically said there isn’t an issue and if they’ve moved on, that’s fine. He talked about sending a baby basket to Fitch when his wife had a baby, and “guaranteed, it was the nicest baby basket he got”. He again downplayed the idea that he hated Fitch, saying that was completely overblown.
White was asked about Josh Thomson’s recent comments about gay marriage next. Here’s his response, fully quoted:
So I heard about it last night. I was on twitter, and that’s when I landed, and that’s where I heard about it. I looked into it today. What he said was, he put out a question, basically saying…obviously, that he is not for gay marriage. He basically said ‘I want to ask a question. And the question is – If we do whatever makes us happy, where/when does it end?’…and he went onto do all this rambling, stupid shit. He didn’t say anything negative. He didn’t say anything bad. He didn’t say anything against gay marriage or gay people. He just posed a question.
Is it stupid? What he put down is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. He should probably get a hobby. Like finger painting or something. And leave talking to smart people. That’s probably what he should do. That would probably be really good for him. But we don’t stop people from having their own opinions. He doesn’t like gay marriage, well that’s his opinion. He didn’t hurt anybody, he didn’t say anything negative. He just said ‘If people are able to do what they think is fun, or what makes them happy, where does it end’.
What he said was asinine. And absolutely just the stupidest gibberish I’ve ever seen in my life. He should stick to finger painting or fighting and leave talking to smart people. But he didn’t hurt anybody. The difference between what he did and what (Matt) Mitrione did and what Nate (Diaz) did? The stuff they said was derogatory and mean, mean-spirited, and was said to hurt people.
Dana also confirmed that he will not be punished, because “you can’t punish a guy for having an opinion”, but you can punish someone who says “hateful, hurtful things”.
The end of it was all quick hits. White was asked about Reza Madadi’s legal issues in Sweden, but he knew nothing about it. Ariel followed up with a question about Brian Bowles, who tested positive for elevated testosterone after his UFC 160 loss. Dana didn’t know what the deal was in terms of Bowles still being with the UFC. White doesn’t know anything about Cathal Pendred either. And he doesn’t read anything to do with a “rally” on twitter. Take note, BEletists.
Finally, he said that Chael Sonnen didn’t in fact know about Jon Jones’ injury before UFC 151. Dan Henderson confirmed that earlier today. They’re apparently not going to go to the Las Vegas Speedway for a show, despite reports of that last week. And that’s it.
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