Dana White Takes on PRIDE

Last week I had the pleasure to interview UFC’s popular president, Dana White, yet again. We happened to bump into each other at one of the monthly Guilty Boxing cards at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and he mentioned to me that he had to say some things about Chuck Liddell’s continued quest in PRIDE’s Middleweight Grand Prix.

He knew that by speaking out to the loyal readers of Sherdog.com, he’d be able to express his feelings and predictions on Chuck, the rest of the Grand Prix and the state of the light heavyweight division in his own UFC.

Never one to hold anything back (he is from Boston, you know), Dana openly speaks out about his confidence in Liddell and is equally respectful to everybody else in the Grand Prix.

Mike Sloan: Dana, you’ve bee mentioning to me for a couple days now on how unbelievable Chuck Liddell looks in training. Phil Baroni has backed up your words by telling me the same things. What is it about his training this time that makes him so much more different than previous training camps?

Dana White: Oh, you talked to Baroni, huh? That’s right. Well, we put together sort of a dream team, me and John Hackleman did. We worked together on putting together this team to work with Chuck on this fight. Hackleman’s been flying back and forth from here in Vegas to San Luis Obispo and we’re all really, really pumped up about how Chuck looks right now.

Mike Sloan: Who all is on the dream team?

Dana White: Well, we’ve got Hackleman overseeing it. We’ve also got this guy named ‘Ganyao.’ He’s a head Muay Thai instructor from Fairtex. (-Ed note: His full name is Phiceat Arunleung, but goes by the nickname of ‘Ganyao’).

John Lewis is also in there doing all of his jiu jitsu and he’s been getting all of his grapplers and wrestling partners up there. Matt Hughes flew in for a few days and wrestled with Chuck. He’s been with Hughes, Baroni and this awesome wrestler kid, too. His name is Jay Heiron and he is an unbelievable wrestler, one of Baroni’s friends from New York.

Watch out for this kid. Everything is just clicking right now. It’s all coming together. You know how sometimes during training when everything just starts clicking? That’s what’s going on right now. Chuck looks phenomenal. He’s mean, he’s nasty right now and he looks good.

Mike Sloan: While Chuck is preparing for his fight next week, is he training solely for Rampage, or is he also training for Silva and Yoshida as well?

Dana White: I’ll be honest; we’ve structured this thing around Rampage and Silva without even putting Yoshida in mind. I want to bet on the over/under on what row Yoshida’s head will land in when Silva hits him (chuckles). So, yeah, it’s all for Rampage and Silva.

Mike Sloan: It’s understandable due to the fact that nobody gives Yoshida a chance to win the GP.

Dana White: Uh-huh. Exactly.

Mike Sloan: Actually, my original pick to win the entire GP was Ricardo Arona, but he got himself injured.

Dana White: Right (snickers).

Mike Sloan: God forbid that something happens between now and fight time and Rampage injures himself, is Chuck and his dream team prepared to fight a last-minute replacement? How much of a fly would it by in your ointment for Rampage had to pull out and, say, Bustamante or even Arona- if he’s healthy- had to fill in?

Dana White: Yeah, that would be tough. I don’t know, man. I don’t even want to think about that.

Mike Sloan: Do you think Chuck would be able to adapt in time?

Dana White: I think Chuck’s the kind of guy that wouldn’t care and would adapt, but I don’t know how I’d feel about it, though. You know what I mean? Seriously, I’m a basket case over this entire event. I can’t wait until this whole thing is over! (Laughs)

Mike Sloan: Yeah, and it’s not even one of your own shows!

Dana White: Exactly… But when we’re there, it’s like the first fight with Alistair. I was a bundle of nerves the whole friggin’ week. That night, when the fight was going on, I had the adrenaline pumping and then when they were fighting, man, I just miss that feeling!

I don’t get that feeling at my own fights, you know what I mean? It’s great to be part of something like that and that’s what has gotten Lorenzo excited, too. He’s coming out to Japan with me for this show. So he’s pretty excited about it, too. We’re both like two little kids right now. We just can’t wait to get this thing going.

Mike Sloan: During the fight with Overeem when Chuck was hit with that first knee and he stumbled forward, what was going on in your head at that moment?

Dana White: I’ll tell you right now and not to sound like a goofball and if you listen to my commentary during the fight, that fight when exactly the way we planned it on going. Obviously, we didn’t know if we were going to knock Alistair out or that early, but I felt that Chuck could knock him out.

It went exactly how we planned it. During my commentary, I said to watch out because he’ll come out with the flying knee. And you know what? He came right out with that flying knee to the body, which was the first thing he threw. We expected everything that Alistair did. We expected everything that he did. We had the perfect gameplan for it.

Chuck’s tough and I say it over and over that I like real fighters. Chuck is a real fighter, man. It’s all he wants to do; it’s all he cares about. He’d do it for free. Chuck would fight for free just because he likes to fight. That’s a real guy. That’s a guy you don’t have to worry about (pulling out of a fight). Plus he’s got a great chin, he’s got awesome recovery power and he’s got heavy, heavy hands.

Mike Sloan: In my opinion, I believe that Chuck ranks in the top five for hardest punchers in MMA. I think Rizzo’s hands are number one, but Chuck is definitely in the top five.

Dana White: You gotta talk to Baroni again and ask him how hard Chuck Liddell hits.

Mike Sloan: Baroni hits hard, too.

Dana White: He does! That’s what I’m saying! Just ask Baroni how hard Liddell hits.

Mike Sloan: What, did Chuck knock out Baroni in sparring?

Dana White: No.

Mike Sloan: I already know your answer, but for the sake of argument, say Chuck loses in the Grand Prix. Would you rather it be against Rampage or Silva?

Dana White: It wouldn’t matter. Seriously, it wouldn’t matter. Obviously, I’d like to see him advance into the next round and fight Silva, but if you’re going to lose, you’re going lose. What are you going to do, you know? We’re in a tournament with tough guys. You know what life is all about, Mike? Life is all about finding something you love, doing it and laying your balls on the line if you want to be great.

If you’re a great fighter, you go out and fight every other great fighter you possibly can. That’s what will make you a great fighter. That’s what will make you a legend in your sport. It’d be like the Marlins making it to the World Series, but not wanting to play the Yankees because they might lose. Because they’re afraid they might lose. You gotta go! You gotta do it! PRIDE came to me and said that if I want Chuck to fight Wanderlei, it’s gotta be in the tournament. I talked to Chuck and he said let’s do it. If at the end of the tournament Chuck walks away with the belt, he’s the man. You never know unless you go.

Mike Sloan: Exactly. Also, Chuck fought Couture and got beaten pretty bad. Chuck never once said to me that he wants to take some time off and then return to a couple of easy tune-up bouts. He went head first right into the PRIDE Grand Prix.

Dana White: Six weeks later, after that defeat to Couture, he and I were in Japan at a press conference for him to take on seven of the baddest dudes in the world possibly.

Mike Sloan: It’s not like it was way back when in the early days of boxing where Jack Dempsey never wanted to fight the Black fighters.

Dana White: (Chuckles) Right. Exactly.

Mike Sloan: To me, that’s not a sign of a true champion. Liddell loses badly to Couture and then bounces right back in against some of the elite guys in MMA.

Dana White: You can’t help but love Chuck if you’re a fight fan. And I’m a fight fan. I love guys that love to fight.

Mike Sloan: What are your personal thoughts on Rampage both as a fighter and as a person?

Dana White: I think Rampage is a great person. I like him very much. I think he’s really starting to mature as a fighter and when I really started to see him mature was in the Bustamante fight. You can say that Bustamante only had a week to prepare or whatever, but big deal. He came in and he fought.

Don’t make any excuses for a guy who says, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight.’ That’s the bottom line; that’s it. You decided to fight. Everybody knows how awesome his submissions are. I think Rampage was patient and he worked out of all those submissions. He was caught in some tight stuff there a few times, he worked out of them, showed a lot of heart and he threw a ton of leg kicks, which also shows that he’s growing as a fighter. I like Rampage in every way.

Mike Sloan: How far away is Rampage from being the best in his division?

Dana White: I think he’s got a ways to go. I think he’s still learning. I’m going to be honest and tell you how I feel about this fight. I think that it can go either way. I think it’s going to be a real tough fight that goes the distance or I think that Chuck is going to come out and completely out-class him the way he did Sobral.

Mike Sloan: Do you see him knocking him out or just wiping him up for an easy decision?

Dana White: I could see a knockout. With the way Chuck looks right now, I see a knockout.

Mike Sloan: Are you worried that if Chuck does beat Rampage and it’s a long, drawn out war, that Chuck will be too tired by the time he fights either Silva or Yoshida?

Dana White: There’s nothing you can do, man. We’re in a tournament. Whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen and Rampage is a tough guy.

Mike Sloan: With the way you speak so highly of Rampage, does this mean you are interested in him possibly fighting in the UFC?

Dana White: Well, he said on many occasions that he would not fight Tito. We don’t bring guys in who don’t fight other guys.

Mike Sloan: What about Silva? He used to fight in the UFC.

Dana White: I’d bring Wanderlei back. Again, we’re talking about real fighters. Wanderlei Silva is a real fighter, man. He’ll fight anybody, any day.

Mike Sloan: Yeah, he’ll also fight you in an airport.

Dana White: (Laughs) Yeah!

Mike Sloan: Okay, if Chuck wins the whole tournament; beats Rampage and either Silva or Yoshida, will you then put him back in against Couture if he’s still the champ? Or would you pit Chuck against another guy while Randy fights someone else?

Dana White: I think that win, lose or draw, the sellable fight here in the UFC in the US is Tito vs. Chuck. It’s a fight that needs to happen.

Mike Sloan: What about Couture? Does he lay idle until those two square off?

Dana White: I think Couture kicks back and waits for the winner.

Mike Sloan: What about Vitor Belfort? Where does he sit in the whole scheme of things?

Dana White: I’m not sure what we’ll do or what’s going on with Vitor.

Mike Sloan: Don’t put him in against Franklin because if Franklin isn’t fully ready, it could ruin his chances of being a household name, you know?

Dana White: Right, right. No, I hear ya.

Mike Sloan: Franklin is going to be a great fighter, but like Rampage, he has a little ways to go still.

Dana White: Rich Franklin is a very marketable guy. I like him a lot.

Mike Sloan: But with Vitor, it’s hard where you can put him. If he fights Tito and beats him, Tito’s marketability goes down the tubes more than likely. If Vitor loses to Tito or Couture, he’d be basically done in the eyes of the casual UFC fan. Vitor’s in between a rock and hard place. Plus, Vitor doesn’t deserve a shot at Couture’s title yet.

Dana White: You are right. I fully agree with you. It’s very, very tough right now.

Mike Sloan: Dana, thanks once again for the interview.

Dana White: Alright, bro. Take care.