Dana White talks HBO, PRIDE FC, Liddell-Silva and more
From the HBO deal to recent PRIDE FC rumors to the showdown between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva that may not happen, UFC President Dana White and four fighters answered wide-ranging questions today during the conference call to promote UFC 73: “Stacked.”
Sam Caplan over at FiveOuncesOfPain.com was on the call — along with other reporters and UFC fighters Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, Sean Sherk and Nathan Marquardt — but we’ll summarize his summary.
That’s because there were some interesting topics discussed.
Here’s what we found most intriguiing:
- White “scoffed” at the claim that the HBO deal is dead. In fact, White said that the UFC was, “right about there with the deal.”
- Old PRIDE FC contracts, according to White, are valid with Pride Worldwide —the new company that owns PRIDE FC. However, a lot of the fighters on the PRIDE FC roster are signing with the UFC because the status of the promotion is uncertain right now and they want to fight. And reports that PRIDE FC running a show anytime soon appear to be untrue, according to White, because there is still so much that needs to be sorted out regarding its future.
- The blockbuster fight between Liddell and Silva is a little overblown and that it is unlikely to happen at UFC 76 on September 22 if at all so soon. In fact, Liddell could actually return in November.
- Evans’ uncle wants Ortiz to “pay for all the years the black man was enslaved” after the “Nappy Headed Ho” comments.
- Sokoudjou may not be allowed to fight in EliteXC (he’s legally tied to PRIDE FC for two more fights) despite reports that he signed with organization.
- White called the people who reported Ken Shamrock would fight Michael Bisping as, “Internet Knuckleheads.” Who, us? He went on to say that he doesn’t believe Shamrock is still a UFC-caliber fighter and that Shamrock should consider retirement.
That’s our recap of the recap. Head over to FiveOuncesOfPain for the entire scoop.
Written by admin on June 28th, 2007 with
comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 73 and HBO and Pride and Dana White and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
- [+] Digg: Feature this article
- [+] Del.icio.us: Bookmark this article
- [+] Furl: Bookmark this article