UFC President Dana White took questions from the media at the official UFC 287 post-fight press conference following an exciting …
all right guys the uh fight of the night went to Curtis and gasolum and uh performance of the night went to font in Israel they all won fifty thousand dollars the attendance tonight was 19 032 sold out highest grossing event in the arena history the gate was 11.9 Million six highest grossing event in UFC history and there’s a new sheriff in town ladies and gentlemen it beat msg’s last gate Miami beat Madison Square Garden last gate there was uh 11.5 and it was the same fight so unbelievable when you think that last time we came here we did a gate of 446 thousand and now we just beat Madison’s Court Garden so I’ve been saying this all week Miami is like Miami reminds me of LA 10 years ago this place is booming I’m sure you felt it when you’re I’m sure a lot of you are from here but those of you that aren’t I mean every restaurant is packed till midnight one in the morning people out in the streets it’s just like this place is as cool and as hot and as incredible as ever it was it was a really I’m glad we came here it was a cool experience John Morgan what does it say so when you said at the press conference hey we’ll be coming back I mean do you think this is like an annual type destination for you now yeah we’re in we’re coming to Miami this this place is such a different place than the last time I was here um obviously I’m assuming a lot of this was built up you know during covet and you know all the stuff that you know went on here it’s just this this hope this place is at a whole nother level it’s incredible a lot to talk about with the featured fights but I just want to ask you real quick about Chase Sherman do you have an update on his condition or exactly what happened there no no no okay fair enough he got sick he he was you know sapping a couple times and I think he ate something bad is from what I heard I don’t quote me though because I don’t know for sure all right fair enough obviously amazing result the main event Israel out of Sonya Champion again uh thrilling second round especially I mean just tension I guess talk about the fight overall what you thought and that win yeah I mean it was it was an absolute War Israel and Sonia I was saying this coming into this fight I mean this guy never turns down a fight when it came time to fight Pereira he was ready let’s do it I want to fight three times I only want to fight the best he lost he was ready for an immediate rematch I mean this kid is uh and people were asking you know in interviews leading up to this fight you know do you think he’s messed up mentally and and do you think he’s in his head and I did not think that because as the way is listen a lot of these guys a lot of is talked in public like oh I want this fight and then behind the scenes it’s a whole nother ball game Israel out of Sonya is not that guy Israel out of Sonya will fight anybody anywhere anytime and and the guy likes to fight three times a year even though he’s he has the belt you know a lot of these guys get the belt and start making that really big money I’ll fight two times and it goes down to one time and you know how it goes you’ve seen it but not this kid he’s special he’s different emphatic victory tonight so what do you think I mean a great rivalry between these two right it was a great story line is there unfinished business now like do they need to do it again to settle the UFC Trilogy or or what are your thoughts honestly I think that Pereira probably moves to 205 after this fight he’s a monster you know I know that he had he still had like two pounds to cut leading up to there was like an hour left of the weigh-in so and uh yeah I mean I’m not saying he’s moving to 205 but I would assume he is you guys can ask him himself but that wouldn’t surprise me coal Main Event Gilbert Burns came into enemy territory got an impressive win he was here just before you and says hey I want to be the backup for the next title shot in fact he didn’t say I want he said I demand I’m not asking I’m telling you uh normally you like attitudes like that I love that position yeah I love that why not deal you got a deal we got it done uh and then I guess last thing I want to ask you about uh Kevin Holland I thought he was talking to you I mean no surprise he’s talking to you during the fight after the fight but just seemed like a weird week all around that you kind of didn’t want us talking to him about other fights well I guess what happened with Kevin Holland what happened well the reason I didn’t want you guys talking about other fights is guys we’re two days before a fight he’s not fighting Jorge mazvidal whatever they got into whatever first of all it creates backstage and at the hotels right when you guys ask him questions like that and they say something we still got two days until the fight and these guys run into each other backstage and everywhere else and it’s so disrespectful to their opponent there’s an opponent sitting up there that they’re gonna fight and uh I I just hate that I get it you want your clicks or whatever it is you guys want to get your little moment that you can post but I will attack you if you do that you know what I mean it’s just it’s just uh causes a lot of backstage and at the hotel and um but you know it’s like the time the stuff went down with Diaz and and all those guys uh and hamzat you know these guys have 20 30 guys backstage and just that just can’t happen here and you guys can’t instigate it what was he saying to you tonight crazy I mean I don’t know what he was saying he was yelling at me and I don’t even know what he was saying it was just it was crazy yeah I I don’t know you know Trump looked at me and said what’s he talking about I said I don’t know is he talking to me or talking to you and uh yeah I don’t know I don’t know what was going on but yeah he’s he’s had a crazy week he’s he’s been acting a little a little crazy this week data going back to Israel you mentioned that he’s kind of special right and he wants to fight as often as he can but you’ve dealt with a lot of guys who are different mentally in the history of this sport right you’ve got people like Connor and all these who are kind of like artists but in terms of mental strength to be able to find a guy who’s beating you three times do you think Israel might be on another level of just self-confidence yeah I just think you know you you meet some of these guys that are literally true Fighters they’re just they’re Fighters and and that’s what he is this kid loves to fight he loves to prove himself he loves to challenge himself and uh he’s a very unique guy very unique yeah I mean even knowing already the celebration he was going to do like seconds after he notes it out like having that stuff already pre-planned yeah um yeah I don’t know you guys should really has he been here yet oh yeah yeah you guys should really dig into that one I mean you know how mentally strong this kid is and and like you said like he he believes in himself so much and he’s willing to test himself against a guy who’s beat him three times you know what I mean he comes out tonight and knocks him out viciously yeah it’s just pretty awesome uh appears to be done with the sport obviously that’s his decision and whenever you hear a guy talking like that it usually means the end is near but he’s also a fun guy like Nate was where you can put him in big fights and he’ll make big money for himself would you like to see him walk away would you be happy to see him stickers yeah no listen as soon as you think about retiring you know you should in this business and he’s made a lot of money he made a lot of money tonight and you know he’s got things outside the Octagon going on too like Connor does and and some of these other guys and I I think he’s uh I think he’s proved everything he needed to prove to himself and he’s changed his family’s life and why not is he an example for a younger fighters they’re like hey you know your career might be going one way but if you have one good year or one the right fight at the right time if you take it you can change your entire career oh that flying knee changed his life you know what I mean when he threw that flying knee um it changed his whole life and and uh yeah lost one for me I’ve always been curious about this Donald Trump was here watching the fights with you what sort of fight fan is he is he like a guy who wants to see a brawl does he want to see a technical back and forth like what was he sitting there saying to you so this guy calls me twice a month and will talk to me for an hour about fights that have happened you know since the last time we talked and uh he knows everybody he he knows uh you know what they did and and uh who they fought last and he’s a huge fight fan loves this stuff he’s his favorite fighter three guesses Connor huh Connor Colby Covington and jorgeous that yeah that has been all in Covington damn it uh what would you like to see royal roses go from here I know he had a lot of hype and then he kind of ran in Christian Rodriguez it just looked like a grown man fighting someone that might have been 19. yeah it happens he’s a young kid you know um I had that two rounds to one and uh you know he’s got a lot of growing to do he’s got he’s got a lot of work to do people love him this isn’t you know this isn’t as damaging to him as a nobody really goes undefeated in this sport it’s it’s very very hard to do um but uh you know he’s just got to get back in there get back on the horse and keep going Abalone Muhammad was in here too and he said he would actually be interested in fighting Kamara Usman next if he doesn’t get a title shot or a backup shot or anything I know you said you were interested in Booking him again shavkot in London is that still the plan with below to do what with him you want in London you said you were looking at Bilal versus shav cat Bilal was in there saying he’d actually be interested in fighting kamaru because he’s the only one ranked higher than him uh in the rankings interesting yeah we’ll talk about it but yeah the the other fight is the fight that we wanted to do he also said that he actually asked to be the backup in London and it was that ended up being Colby Covington was that true not at all but if you said it then yeah it’s true yeah he’s a nice guy and he’s not lying do you see a shirt out here is what shirt no what would it was Colby Covington with a broken jaw oh really yeah it’s been crazy around here lately um yo Africa dream is back now with is he becoming a champion um how how is that coming along because I did speak to some people in Africa the last time we spoke and they are building a facility in Nigeria it’s huge that’s what we need we we need some real infrastructure over there to go over there and pull off you know fight like tonight um but yeah I mean I’ve made it very clear that I’m focused on that we’re building the PI right down in Mexico right now so once that gets done we’ll start looking Lawrence when will we start looking in Africa there you go added the car you know he’s the guy who sends people out to start looking he’s the guy that found the place in Mexico and he’s the guy that will find a place in Africa for us yeah the car arena is like 12 000. it’s it’s hosted a bunch of events in the past so yeah perfect Kevin Holland um at this point don’t you have to upgrade security first time that now we have I mean nobody got in a fight that day until you guys started trying to start and get stuff going right I mean nothing happened a lot of yelling at each other and stuff like that but the thing is you gotta understand these guys are grown men so when when Holland left the press conference that day I told the security guys I want more Security on them and they told him when he when he got off the stage you know what he did he ran out the back and left by himself because he doesn’t want security you know these are grown men and and we can do as much as we can do um yeah last one for me um we Africa has had three champions in the past now we have one back um what’s the what’s the negative for Kamar Usman I know he probably has to work his way back to the top again what’s like the next thing you might have for it yeah I don’t know yet I don’t know yet for tomorrow but um we’ll get him figured out soon Dana back here thank you yeah Dana over here yeah oh how you doing congratulations on another great night so with the success of the Miami card and your card you look at your people do you talk at your people say hey we got to open up her calendar a little bit more and come back to Miami more come back to the New York Market more like what’s this an indication of well I don’t think I need to tell anybody at the office I know we need to come back to Miami I thank everybody first of all it’s just such a great place to come I’m sure those of you that came in town this week had a blast like I did and uh you know like I say 10 years ago La was the greatest city in the world and I I look at Miami now like like La was this place is is booming man it’s this is a really cool City tons of great restaurants uh hotels et cetera et cetera and and you know like I said when I open this thing there’s a new sheriff in town now man I mean this thing was looking like it was going to be um right behind MSG in Vegas they beat MSG so um we definitely made the right decision and now we’ll figure out when to bring it down here again cool uh one more question so I actually wanted to talk about the uh Endeavor deal uh with the WWE anytime you can get Vince McMahon and Dana White on the same depth card that’s 1992 dream team type type stuff so uh what’s your thoughts about the deal and what are your thoughts about WWE and UFC congrateness sports and entertainment conglomerate yeah I like the deal I’m very supportive of it you know um you know I knew that they were working on a long time ago and Ari’s super uh respectful like that you know Ari wanted to make sure that everybody was good with this before we move forward with it and um I think that Ari is going to bring a lot of value he’s going to that doesn’t change anything around here there’s no you know we had Brock come over here we had Ronda go over there that that’s all if that’s ever possible if guys leave here and they love wrestling and they’re good enough to do it before this deal we would have been good with that but what’s going to happen now is Ari’s going to add a ton of value to WWE whether it’s sponsorship licensing and a lot of other things that he can do when he touches the business and these two the UFC and WWE will become their own stock uh you know we’ll have our own take they’re talking about I don’t know how much I can talk about this I should shut the up actually um yeah my Lord my Lord is shaking his head yes um yeah yeah we’re really happy about this deal and we’re looking forward to it uh one more actually uh with uh Donald Trump and audience obviously uh when you first bought the UFC uh zufa uh you know when you got the provisionary license in New Jersey Trump uh Plaza he hosted you guys now all these years later you see it and now it’s a huge conglomerate worldwide like how cool is it that your friend who you know was helping you at the beginning now is a part of it and now is watching it as it’s grown to uh Mega sport yeah I say it all the time I mean when we did that first deal at the Trump tosham Hall um you know you got to remember and it’s hard for a lot of you to even think about this because of where the brand was at that time and what it meant but he saw it he got it he cut us that deal at the Taj when we went there got there for the first fight of the night and stayed there to the last fight and uh he did it both times that we were there and tonight he got here tonight at 7 30. he’s here at 7 30 and he stayed till the to the last fight and then left he loves the sport he loves the fights and uh like I said many times he’s been an incredible friend to me thank you very much Dana thank you hey Dana Joe pifer he didn’t get the bonus but he’s been nothing short of spectacular great Contender series and his two fights spectacular finishes what are your thoughts on his performance and where we go from here and he’s spectacularly beat a real guy tonight I mean that that was a great performance he didn’t win but you know I’ll take care of him and uh who’s the other kid that we were gonna uh you can’t I brought him in the back and yeah and uh yeah we’re gonna take care of him too yeah how important was this victory for Calvin Gaslamp because he had that injury he lost that fight he had to come back to this how important was this for his career yeah he’s a dog you know and he fought tonight like the old Calvin you saw him go in there and go to war and uh you know he comes back he wins wins fight of the night it was a big night for him not to be overlooked When Donald Trump came out he had Kid Rock I don’t know who planned the choreography but she had the music going on him next to him who’s synced that up because that was perfect there was no choreography I mean it just we were all back there together I’m good friends with Kid Rock too so um we were all back there we’re all friends me him and and Trump and we walked out and the DJ played American Badass you know um yeah it wasn’t there was no choreography whatsoever we just we were just the show was about to start and we walked well played thank you Dana yeah welcome back to Miami thank you I was one of the few there back way back when for that show and just to see tonight it was amazing thank you electricity I’m just curious what do you think over those 20 years has helped grow MMA and make it so big here because it was dead back then well two things well you know it wasn’t dead that was we were on the we were just growing the sport and the brand at the time um but uh Miami isn’t the same place it was when I came back then either like I say this is a completely different city this is one of the most powerful cities in America now um it was not what it is that like I keep referencing LA because when you think of La ten years ago it was probably one of the if not the coolest city in the country not so much today Miami is on a whole nother level man this this place has boom so if you look at the growth of the UFC the growth of Miami it was the right time to come here and and uh and we were right we had other options and we looked at other options and we pulled the trigger on Miami and we’re all very happy that we did now and with that said you were here in Sunrise Fort Lauderdale a few years ago and that show did fairly no they were very good for us too yeah so did that help too in making the decision or not really if you look at if you look at what we’ve done in Florida since 2020 and again going through covid we had Florida and we had Abu Dhabi so you know we we’ve been bouncing around here and doing well because of what the mayor did for us um up in uh Jacksonville yeah we’re going back again that that’s our last thank you sir we appreciate everything you’ve done for us and we’re going to go back there and give them another event Florida was very good to us and and tonight was amazing and then lastly for me you know you don’t want to talk a lot about it and I can’t not talk about not not say something about your governor too another guy who was incredible to us through you know covet and everything else and uh who also takes a lot of credit for how Kick-Ass this state is right now too American top team kill Cliff FC even Masters in Miami how has that helped too in the growth of this area for MMA again credits of Dan Lambert a guy who is uh spent his own money to not only take care of Fighters but you know uh create world champions and essentially help build the UFC in the sport and lastly for me I know you don’t want to talk a lot about it but UFC WWE still will be two separate companies doing their own thing and not merging per se or anything like that right no no it’s it’s you know they’re going to do what they do we’re going to do what we do the parent company and Ari will help them in a lot of ways that they know they can help them some of the things as as much as WWE is kicking there’s a lot of things in that business that can be tweaked and and can make a big difference not to mention the fact that their right steel is up so their television rights are up and when your television rights are up there’s nobody better than Ari Emmanuel Dan I just straight ahead here yeah uh who are the transports to the hospital tonight did what the transports to the hospital no transport okay yeah and there’s been a few reports the UFC are coming back to London in July uh can you confirm that and well I’m guessing that’s a yes uh will it be a flight night or a pay-per-view I’m working on it and I want it to be a pay-per-view awesome yeah guessing it will be Colby Leon when I talk about Florida let’s talk about London now London has been incredible to us man it’s been it’s been amazing the fans over there are amazing we’re supposed to have a fight night in July I want it to be a pay-per-view so um there’s a lot of internal that needs to be worked out and I’m working on it so thank you yeah go ahead sir Rob font just knocked out Adrian Janice after a year layoff and he asked for Davidson figueredo when Davison makes his 135 debut what do you think of that fight yeah I mean the big win big win tonight for Rob font man that was huge impressive uh the fight was a war and yeah tonight tonight was a big night for him man I I I I don’t know if that’s the answer to your question but big night for him I mean huge with Endeavor uh buying WWE WWE is having an event in Puerto Rico May 5th Smackdown and then they’re having the pay-per-view on May 6 with uh Bad Bunny as an associate those two events in the 17 000 Puerto Rico Colosseum got sold out in a week perhaps UFC May consider finally coming back to Puerto Rico I’m all about Puerto Rico I’ve talked about Puerto Rico a lot when I talk about building pis um yeah I mean I I I wouldn’t say no yeah and what about that pi we’re doing Mexico right now we got to get that one but pis aren’t cheap they’re expensive to build man we’re working on Mexico now and then we’ll get our together and figure out what’s next because we’re talking about opening one in Abu Dhabi I want one in Puerto Rico and I would love to have one in Africa too thanks yep it’s going to take time though you know here um is there an update on Jon Jones as far as what like what’s next for him when Jon Jones came out made quick work and poof disappeared man he went back to whatever he’s doing he he’s ready to fight he wants steepe so we’ll get it figured out and that’s that’s definitely the fight Steve is next that’s the that’s the one he wants yeah and uh just a couple quick ones with uh masvidar retiring you know he’s not entirely retiring from Combat Sports in the sense that you know he is doing his own thing as a promoter with Gambit boxing just curious what’d you think of uh of sort of the bringing MMA guys into boxing what’d you think of the the show the promotion I actually watched the fight um it was uh I liked I liked the undercard I thought the undercard had good fights the other thing that I was impressed by with them is that they actually had good production when you when you watch a small show like that right one thing that you have to understand how whether the production is good or not is how fast the replay comes they’re right on top of the replays the replays came out fast they they did they did a damn good job with the production I was impressed with it um and uh I I the thing that I don’t like is 50 year olds fighting it’s just just not my thing man um uh so so the co-main and the main put the rest of the card was fine I mean Jose Aldo and and uh Jeremy Stevens was an awesome fight awesome fight uh and then the boxing fights uh the kid that was undefeated I think it was Puerto Rican actually right yeah yeah that kid that he fought didn’t just show up for a paycheck that kid showed up to win it was a great fight I like that fight too and yeah I had fun watching the card I was home Saturday night didn’t do anything and I watched it nice and I know you a while ago you spoke about having some interest in maybe going down the boxing route is that still up in there or no uh what does that smile mean we’ll see hey Dana it seemed like seemed like all the answers for roses in the first round and then he had a bunch of questions in rounds two and three who’s this roses yeah yeah can you talk a little bit about his performance yeah I don’t I don’t know I mean problems he encountered they were tight this kid was obviously you know there’s this thing with 18 year old strength and 25 year old man strength you know and and the other kid was a really good Grappler so um like I said that this kid has a ton of room to grow tonight was a good experience for him and and that’s what the Sport’s all about and he was 7-0 but it’s very very hard to go undefeated and and especially when you come into the UFC and as young as this kid is just if you you know he was right in there I had it I I had it uh two to one and yeah he’ll get better okay he’ll get better thanks Dan yep hey Donna yeah decides to stay in the image religion yeah well I was saying to him earlier I I I I would bet anything he moves to 205 after this fight yeah but you you approved the trilogy like if you want to stay in the middle of it it’s like it’s like two I don’t know we’ll see what happens we’ll see what he decides after that I mean the fight just happened 30 minutes ago I don’t know we’ll say Dana over here Dana now you’ve mentioned the when’s the pi open in New Mexico for the UFC to Mexico is this like an issue with the arena maybe the promoters down there why is the UFC not going to Mexico this 2023. got it um you know as the world starts to open up now there’s a lot of other places that we got to go but you’re not wrong I mean for the first time ever we got three Champions why did we not do a Cinco de Mayo fight why did we not do this why we’re it up that’s why we’re it up we’re trying to fix it and lastly we’re we’re making a lot of mistakes right now and I know we are and we’ll we’ll get our together I promise you and lastly can we confirm that Rodriguez is fighting Alexander volkanovski in international five weeks I cannot confirm that sir you’re welcome hey Dana hey Dana right here hey uh quick question you’re talking about all these other places how about Canada Toronto Montreal we’re going to Vancouver awesome any timelines for that or yeah we’re going huh yeah June awesome thank you Dana over here where have you been we announced that two days ago are you Canadian [Laughter] uh Dane over here uh a few events over the over the past few years with WWE and the UFC have combined on both days and I think this is the same event with 288 and backlash are you guys going to talk with WWE and Ari in regards to making sure that doesn’t happen in the future well I I also think that any time that we ever went on the same night our fan bases are completely different you know what I mean I don’t think there’s a ton of crossover um with the fan base so it it’s not like it ever hurt us yeah but maybe we won’t I don’t know I don’t know the answer to that question but I I don’t think it makes a difference appreciate it thank you if anything what I’ve started to notice is when you have uh you know these type of things on the same night you make more people stay home and maybe people will watch both or whatever the deal is rael’s here you guys done with me go ahead what do you got for me okay that’s one last question Dana yeah about Gilbert Burns yeah besides fighting business uh Gilbert he speaks Spanish Portuguese English um he’s good with media he’s always his social media is increasing do you see himself in the future as one of the biggest star of the company maybe one of the face of the sport in the near future well he’s the number one ranked guy in the world he has all these uh things that you say and and he’s one of the nicest guys ever and and and if a fight if he has to dog it out like against the homsat like when he goes in that guy’s willing to go toe-to-toe and and and do anything so yeah I mean the way this guy fights and all the other attributes he says he has yeah he could be a big star especially in Brazil you guys done with me go ahead sir what do you got he’s a big boxing fighter in a couple weeks Ryan Garcia Javonte Davis yeah the fight and these two young guys are you know going at it the boxing we haven’t seen boxers in a while got a big fight like this just a few thoughts on the fight yeah I agree with you there’s uh very few good boxing fights out there this is this is a good one uh this should be fun and that’s that’s a fight out I would definitely watch huh you think the fight I have no idea I have no idea I mean gervante is a bad dude and and Ryan’s gonna you know he’s uh he’s unproven yet this is his first real big test so he can go in and pull it off it’s it’s a big deal um but I’ll be watching even though de la Hoy is involved with it thanks have a good night you guys and thanks Miami