Boston’s famous Fenway Park is in the UFC’s sights, said UFC President Dana White at the post-fight press conference for UFC 101 early Sunday morning in Philadelphia. The state’s senate passed a bill on July 22 to regulate the sport, a first step that could see the Octagon makes its Massachusetts debut by next summer. White is a Boston native himself.
In other notes:
• Diego Sanchez will likely get the next shot at B.J. Penn, according to Dana White.
• Tito Ortiz will fight Mark Coleman next, said White. “I swear to God when I say this, I’m over it,” said White of his much-publicized rivalry with the former UFC champ. “(Tito) seems to be over it too, so we’ll see what happens.” Ortiz was cageside at UFC 101 Saturday.
• Anderson Silva will likely rematch Dan Henderson at 185 pounds next, according to White.
• On the Sakara-Leites split decision: “People are always subjective about decisions. I didn’t think he won, but I’m not a judge,” said White.
• On the Hendricks-Sadollah stoppage: “I thought it was stopped early,” said White, “but I’m not the referee.” White said he was unsure if a rematch would be necessary. “(Hendricks) went out there and hurt (Sadollah) and the fight was stopped,” he said. “I don’t know if we need to rematch it or –- he won the fight.”
• Ed Soares, Anderson Silva’s manager, said a fan “flipped off” the fighter and threw something at Silva after the fight. “It kind of p---ed me off,” said Soares.
• Ricardo Almeida was waiting for his arm to pop so he could pass on Kendall Grove, until the Hawaiian adjusted his position to finish and Almeida wiggled his elbow free. As of 2:05 a.m. ET, Almeida said he couldn’t straighten his arm.
• Kurt Pellegrino praised the hometown crowd and said that Josh Neer trash-talked during the fight. "You hit like a b--ch," was among the pleasantries.
• UFC debutante Johny Hendricks said the suspect referee’s stoppage and the crowd’s booing did nothing to tarnish his victory. “Whenever I hit him, I saw his eyes roll in the back of his head,” said Hendricks. “He hit the floor. I tried to hurt him and hit him with everything I got, and the ref pulled me off. That’s all I can do. If I was the ref, then that’s a different story. If I was in that situation, I’d probably want him to pull me off.”