UFC 156 Media Day questions With Dana White

Once the UFC 156 Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar Media Day came to a conclusion at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, following the media’s time with some of the main card fighters, Dana White took the time to answer some one on one question from the press.

Here are some highlights of what we had to ask the UFC president leading into tomorrow’s UFC 156 weigh in and other matters outside the Octagon:

How do you feel for this weekend’s event ?

“We’re firing on every cylinder.”

After his suspension and everything, what’s your relationship like with Alistair Overeem?

“Got a great relationship with him. The situation happened and he talked to me like a man. He came to me, he waited in my office for 45 minutes to talk.”

What’s up with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson?

“He is not in the UFC. Rampage wasn’t very nice on his way out. He lost 3 fights. Which is no different than any other guy. Rampage doesn’t want to be in business with us now…
We been doing this for 13 years.
I got no beef with Rampage or ill will… Go somewhere else where you could be made happy.”

How busy is Chael Sonnen? Will people get tired of him ?

There’s a movie with Deniro and Stallone, they want Chael Sonnen.

What about Chris Weidman fighting Anderson Silva for the title? Is he the next title contender? If he is, would that fight be in Brazil this summer?

“If Weidman and him (Anderson) fight it won’t be in Brazil. Were not scheduled to go to Brazil that time of year…
A lot of people say Weidman is the number one contender at 185. If Rashad could move down to 185 it’s hard to say he wouldn’t be the number one contender at 185 also.”

What are the UFC’s plans as far as its next plans to travel overseas?

“We are working on Russia and working on going to India.”

Is there any issues money wise and the market for going again to Brazil?

“Financial backing in Brazil is the least of our worries. Lorenzo is going to be learning some Portuguese, he is going to be spending some time down there.”

When are you targeting a UFC straw weight division? (115lbs division)?

“We are traveling into Mexico and south American countries …so It will happen someday.”

If there is a super fight with Anderson Silva and GSP, where would it be if it was to be a stadium fight?

“Canada, US and Brazil.”

The UFC Featherweight title is on the line this weekend at UFC 156, how does Ricardo Lamas fit into the mix?

“Who he is going to fight next I don’t know. But we got some fun fights lined up.”

What about Anderson Silva moving up? Maybe to do the super fight with Jon Jones?

“If Anderson moved to 205 that would be so much fun. We’re looking at a super fight with him and Jones.”

Are you impressed with the way Nick has handled all the press for his fight against Georges St. Pierre in March?

“There’s no doubt Nick is uncomfortable in that situation.
But he stepped up. He did what he was supposed to do. He showed up on time and made the events”.

As far as The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 goes, it has a new look. Talk us through a behind the scenes with the fighters and Jones and Sonnen.

“We tried a lot of things. Doing live did not work too well. We went back to the old format, that didn’t work out… We went back to the drawing board. We made some tweaks to the production…We tried bringing in the families of the fighters and I loved it. It worked really well and it was fun.”

You would see guys that wouldn’t win on previous season of TUF but you still see them in the UFC. What’s going on with that, what happened to the fighters?

“We have a lot of fighters.
For this last season were going to give all the guys one more fight to get in the UFC…Joe Silva (UFC Matchmaker) wanted to kill me.

If Alistair Overeem wins this Saturday, how soon will he and Cain Velasquez fight for the heavyweight title?

“I don’t know, maybe the summer. ”

What’s going on with rankings and what fighters fight for the belts?

“Were going to start our own rankings. Fightmetrics will help and 90 members of the media have been sent out invites. The Monday after this event we’ll have the UFC Rankings…I see some rankings that make no common sense. But at the end of the day we have to put on the fights that fans want to see…Does it make sense for GSP to fight Anderson Silva? No. But fans want to see that fight…We thought once we reach out to the main stream, people understand the numbers. Its easier for casual fans to understand the sport, the UFC. People get numbers.”

How are things looking for the UFC later in February in Anaheim?

“The UFC 157, Rousey card has done $750,000 in ticket sales and we haven’t started promoting this thing.”