April 26, 2013, UFC 159 press conference notebook
Denis Gorman posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 11:17 PM in UFC
NEW YORK—Whether a proposed superfight with Anderson Silva will ever take place is uncertain.
What is certain for Georges St. Pierre is his next opponent.
“Johnny
Hendricks is next,” UFC President Dana White said during a 45-minute
press briefing with reporters at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden
Thursday afternoon. White, Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen, Alan Belcher,
Michael Bisping, Cheick Kongo and Roy Nelson were in New York to
publicize Saturday’s UFC 159 from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
“And
soon. He’s next,” White said of Hendricks, who has long stumped for a
title fight against St. Pierre. Arguably one of the most devastating
punchers in the UFC, eight of Hendricks’ 15 wins are via TKO or
knockout.
St.
Pierre’s name has been linked to a possible superfight with Silva for
years. However, St. Pierre has been decidedly lukewarm about that bout.
“At
one point before his knee [injury], he wanted that fight. So I don’t
know where his head is at now. Saying he can go down to [155 pound
division]; he’s a pretty big dude. It’s interesting.” White said. “If he
doesn’t want do the superfight, nobody’s going to pressure him to do
the superfight. It’s up to him.”
Don’t expect to see St. Pierre-Hendricks to air on free TV.
“He’s
the biggest pay-per-view guy on the planet,” White said when asked if
the fight would be the main event of a free TV card. “That would hurt.”
* * *
White was still shaken up by the tragic events in Boston last week.
“I’m going there [Saturday] after the fight. This is really personal,” said White, a native Bostonian.
“It impacted me. Big time.”
He
said he will meet with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and the family of
Martin Richard, the 8-year-old who died in the Patriots Day bombing.
White said he, Fox and UFC will donate money.
“This
whole thing is really terrible. Anybody here who is a New Yorker and
lived in New York [on Sept. 11, 2001], look what happened here. [When]
it happens in your hometown, it’s crazy,” White said.
“I think about all the times I went to Marathon. And it’s a holiday, kids are out of school. Just cowardice.”
* * *
Much of yesterday was spent discussing the ongoing battle to legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York.
Professional MMA is banned in New York, yet the state allows amateur, unsanctioned bouts to be fought.
“It’s
a bunch of bullbleep,” White said. “It’s just crazy. And the thing that
I hate about amateur MMA? There’s no such thing. What it means is I can
put on an event and don’t have to pay the talent. So you cruise in
under the amateur thing. There [are] things happening here all the time
that are unsanctioned, dangerous, not good for the people that compete
in it, but [New York State] will let them put on events but not the
organization [where] fighters are being paid and paid well.
“The amount of money that can be made in The City, the list goes on and on. It’s just such a bunch of bullbleep.”
You
can follow Denis Gorman on Twitter at @DenisGorman. He'll be tweeting
live from UFC 159 on Saturday and covering the event for MMA-Insider.
Tagged: UFC, Dana White, MMA, Denis Gorman, amateur MMA, UFC 159, press conference, Georges St. Pierre, GSP, Johnny Hendricks, sanctioning, New York
http://www.mma-insider.com/News/tabid/78/MMAi/882/UFC_159_Notebook_GSP_To_Fight_Hendricks__More.aspx
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 1:32 AM
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