LOS ANGELES ,
CA – The following are quotes
from the “UFC 148 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” following UFC 148: SILVA VS.
SONNEN II. Jay Glazer hosted the show, with analysis from Kenny Florian and UFC
fighter Brian Stann. Ariel Helwani conducted exclusive postfight interviews
backstage at the MGM Las Vegas. Here’s some of what was said:
“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Jay Glazer on UFC
148: Silva vs. Sonnen II: “There were fireworks inside this arena tonight. It’s
not often you have a fight with so much build up and it delivered. I’ve never
been in a fight in Vegas with so much electricity.”
“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Kenny Florian on the
atmosphere: “When Chael walked out, they were booing him. When Silva walked
out, he definitely got a huge welcome at the MGM.”
“UFC Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Guest Analyst Brian Stann on
Silva’s performance: “You give this man any space and he can finish you at a moment’s
notice. He defended the takedown well. He created angles, created space. He got
one shot. He dazed Chael and finished him. That’s why he’s the greatest fighter
of all time.”
Florian on Silva’s comeback after the first round: “It’s the
way that Silva adjusts. It’s the way that he stays calm out there. It’s
brilliant. Anderson Silva is a guy with a tremendous amount of confidence,
tremendous amount of belief in himself. And he can always adjust. We’ve seen
him get dominated and come back and win. And that’s the true mark of a
champion.”
Stann on Silva’s comeback: “We’ve seen this before from the
champion. He can come back from an adversity of four rounds. He came back from
one of the worst rounds of his career. And he comes back and finishes the very next
round.”
Florian on what Sonnen did wrong in the fight: “Chael did a
move that was unnecessary at the wrong time. Anderson Silva, being the sniper
that he is, slipped it and immediately took advantage. And that is really what
makes him great. It’s unbelievable.”
Florian on Sonnen’s emotions affecting the fight: “Chael
doing that spinning back with the elbow. That to me shows that he got overly
emotional. It wasn’t him. He tried to take him down, but he went for the
spinning back elbow and it was unnecessary.”
Glazer on Silva’s controversial knee kick: “And perhaps the
deciding blow in this fight was the controversial knee. The point of the knee
appears to hit the chest. Does the thigh hit the head? You see Chael’s head
rock back. But it doesn’t matter. We have a winner.”
Stann on Silva’s ability to capitalize on mistakes:
“There’re lots of fighters who are fighting someone who makes a mistake and
they don’t capitalize on it. Now we see a guy who consistently, every time
someone makes a mistake, he doesn’t just capitalize on it and score points. He
finishes you in a devastating fashion.”
Florian on a possible third matchup between Sonnen and
Silva: “For me I can watch them fight every night. The style match up—Chael
will always give Anderson
a tough time. Just the way that he matches up against him, I would love to see
it again.”
Stann on who will fight Silva next: “Chael is going to give
everyone a tough time in his division. The best guy to fight Chael Sonnen is
going to be Michael Bisping. He’s the best guy in the middleweight division in
scrambling back to his feet. We saw that when they fought. But if Chael’s going
to get a third shot at Anderson Silva, he’s got to clean out more contenders.
There are a lot of guys he will have to beat in the middleweight division
before he gets that third shot.”
UFC President Dana White on the Silva vs. Sonnen: “Chael
went out and took him down. Took that top position. But he didn’t do any real
serious damage, but did hit him with a couple of big elbow in the first round.
It reminded me of the Dan Henderson fights.”
White on Anderson Silva’s knee kick finish: “Our production
team was telling me it landed on the chest. It wasn’t illegal. The ref didn’t
call it illegal. Even if it was illegal, the ref let the fight go. But I’m
hearing it was a legal knee to the chest.”
White on the Ortiz fight: “I thought Tito looked old
tonight. So did Forrest. Neither one of them looked like young guys. It
reminded me of the first two fights. Forrest barely won this fight.”
Ariel Helwani on who the UFC will match Silva up with next:
“On Wednesday, live on FUEL TV, Mark Munoz will face Chris Weidman and I think
if Mark Munoz looks really good in that fight, I think he could be next for
Anderson Silva. And that fight would be very interesting because of course
Anderson Silva and Mark Munoz have trained together in the past. We also have
UFC 149 between Tim Boetsch and Hector Lombard. The UFC is really looking at
Hector Lombard as a future contender. He could be next for Anderson Silva.”
Stann on Griffin
vs. Ortiz: “It was a back and forth battle. It was a great fight. Obviously the
best fight of the night. Griffin
really had a good range throughout the fight. But it was Tito Ortiz who was
really laying some powerful shots.”
Florian on Griffin ’s
fight: “It came down to the volume of Forrest Griffin. He really stayed in Tito’s
face. Even when he got rocked, even when he got taken down, he just pressured
Tito. And he realized that once Tito was hurt, he just kept pressuring. He also
put together some nice combinations.”
Forrest Griffin on his fight: “If you watch it, it just
feels like one long fight with the same feel to it. Forty five minutes over
five years—it just feels like the same fight pretty much. Tito comes out
strong, takes me down, beats me up a little bit. I come back on him. He gasses
a little bit. I take advantage a little bit. I pressed the gas button, but
nothing happened.”
Tito Ortiz on what was going through his mind during the
fight: “Leave it all out. Come in and fight. When I was done and it was over I
had nothing left. I fought with my heart and soul. The judges saw it a
different way. Forrest had a great fight and I can’t take anything away from
him.”
Ortiz on his emotions before the fight: “I was a kid who
came from nothing. I turned a kid who came from nothing into the most
successful career as a mixed martial artist. I helped build the sport that
built me. And I’m very very thankful.”
Ortiz on his last effort during the fight: “I gave it my all
and I think the fans respect me for that. I fought how I wanted to fight. And
that was my heart and soul. Every one of my fights for the last 15 years, I
gave it my all. Injuries, problems in my life, I went out and beat every odd
that was against me. I’m thankful to my fans who have supported me over the
last 15 years.”
Glazer on Patrick Cote: “He’s a tough guy. One of the things
we didn’t see from Cung Le this time is that he did not gas out. He didn’t die
out as the rounds went on as we’ve seen in the past with him.”
Stan on where he places Cung Le after his win: “The big
thing here is that he is a very popular fighter. Sometimes selling tickets
matters. So I think he’s still going to be in high profile fights. He’s going
to be on the main card. Will he ever get to fight for the title? Probably not.”
Cung Le on his performance: “I’m not surprised I was the
underdog. For the stats, you got to look at what’s on paper. He had a lot more
wins. He had a lot more experience. He fought Anderson Silva. He’s a tough guy.
He says he’s never been knocked out. But I couldn’t look for the knockout, even
though I wanted to. I tried to stay poised. Last time I was looking for the
knock out against Stanley, I got knocked out.”
Florian on if Le can be a real contender: “His wrestling is
great, his striking is obviously great. But I think where he is lacking is the
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills. You can see him get a little bit conservative when
he was in the half guard and close guard of Patrick Cote. I would have wanted
to see more attempts to pass the guard of submission attempts.”
About the Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss
events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the
globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization.
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices
in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually
and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC
burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with
FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on
the FOX network annually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of
programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the
longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which
now airs on FX in an exciting new live format.
In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is
broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes
worldwide, in 20 different languages. UFC content is also distributed
commercially in the United States
to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and
in French throughout Quebec
via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its
website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC
President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed
executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC
businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine,
UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the
best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club
affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards
No comments:
Post a Comment