- Ryan Hockensmith
ESPN The Magazine: You ran into an interesting problem this season with "The Ultimate Fighter." You had a brawl at the house between two fighters, and you reacted with a passionate speech about how too many people think that MMA is just a bunch of brawlers beating the crap out of each other. But there was also the urge to see those two in the octagon, and the UFC actually announced that that would be a fight. Take us through that decision-making process.
Dana White: Spike really wanted that fight to happen, and we ended up booking the fight. Then I realized, 'How the [expletive] did we book that fight?' That fight will probably happen somewhere else, but it won't happen in the UFC. The thing that people have to realize is in "The Ultimate Fighter," those guys aren't UFC fighters. They want to be UFC fighters. We're looking at them through this microscope and looking at all their strengths and weaknesses. Not just in fighting, but in everyday life. Do they drink too much? Do they do this or that? We're looking for the next guy who can become a world champion. If you ask people out there, they'd love to see those two fight. But if you asked them if those two guys deserved to be in the UFC, everybody would tell you no.
ESPN The Magazine: At UFC 75, Dan Henderson will fight Rampage Jackson. Is this a unification bout or is this just for the UFC title?
DW: It will absolutely be a unification bout. We have to respect Henderson's titles. He knocked out Wanderlei Silva and had the 185-pound championship. When he fights Rampage, they both have belts. Why should Dan Henderson get the UFC title if Rampage can't get the PRIDE titles? It makes one of them the undisputed guy.
ESPN The Magazine: Chuck Liddell versus Wanderlei Silva. Is it going happen?
DW: God, I hope so. So many people have wanted to see that fight for so many years, and PRIDE basically killed the fight. Now that Chuck has lost, the fight makes more sense, and I'd love to make it happen. We're on the phone every day with fighters and fighters' managers. There's still work to be done.
ESPN The Magazine: Will this fight happen in the next six months?
DW: I'd say yes. I honestly believe that. But when you're dealing with me, I don't believe there is a fight we can't make, a TV deal we can't do. I'm a very positive guy.
ESPN The Magazine: What is Chuck up to these days?
DW: He's texting me every day, telling me he's ready to go: "When am I fighting? Who am I fighting?" He's already training again. He's ready.
ESPN The Magazine: What about the rumor that there will be a UFC event in November in New Jersey, at the new New Jersey Devils arena? True?
DW: It's true, it's true. It's going to happen. We haven't announced it yet, but it will be a pay-per-view.
ESPN The Magazine: Where are you with the New York athletic control board?
DW: We haven't even started working on them yet. We just got done in Illinois and Michigan. We'll start working on New York next.
ESPN The Magazine: What's that process like?
DW: This thing is so big now. Everybody gets it. There's not a whole lot of explaining to do. There aren't a lot of stupid questions anymore. Rather than us going in to sell people, the control boards want it in their states.
ESPN The Magazine: How do you feel about the IFL, Bodog, EliteXC and other competition popping up?
DW: It's good for us. I don't look at those guys as competition at all. They're nowhere near the league that we're in. I need shows like that. They're the feeder leagues. All the guys who fight in those shows aspire to be in the UFC someday. They're creating all the UFC talent of tomorrow.
LINK to article: http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=2928261
So after reading this what stands out looking at how the UFC is sitting at the moment? For me its Dana saying how he needs to smaller shows to feed the UFC but as we saw he's folded up the ones they had. This is good too.
"ESPN The Magazine: Let's run through some quick UFC questions. How many PPVs for the coming year?
DW: We want 10.
ESPN The Magazine: When's the HBO deal going to get done?
DW: It will be done very soon, in a matter of weeks. People don't realize this stuff isn't easy to get done.
ESPN The Magazine: Fedor Emelianenko -- when will he be in the UFC?
DW: We'll have him soon. We'll have him before the end of the year.
ESPN The Magazine: What's the process? Do you talk to his agent? To Bodog?
DW: We don't talk to Bodog. We talk to his managers twice a day.
ESPN The Magazine: Twice a day?"
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