Wanderlei Silva file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
“I mean, what more could you do to this guy? He’s going to get torn all the way back down and have to work his way all the way back. He’s been working years to get to that. You don’t realize how devastating it is when these guys are caught. They already have been punished. They’re down and out. What am I going to do? Come over and kick them in the face? What else is there to do? I’m going to fine you and suspend you another three months? It doesn’t work that way in the fight business.” -- UFC President Dana White on Chael Sonnen’s suspension
“The reward to use is always going to outweigh the risk to these guys. I’m not saying you stop trying. If I’m Dana White or I’m any sport, I’m not saying you stop trying. You’ve got to educate these guys. You’ve got to let them know. You’ve got to penalize these guys. There’s got to be a deterrent. But they’re going to do it. The stakes are way too high. The rewards are way too great. Guys will always cheat. Guys are not going to stop cheating.” -- ESPN’s Jim Rome on the Chael Sonnen situation, as transcribed by FightOpinion.com
“I came back because Don Corleone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” -- Mirko Filipovic during the UFC 119 press conference, referring to UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta
“I hope not! I think the whole city might burn down, because all my fire department people should be watching my fight.” -- Chris Lytle, an Indianapolis firefighter, on what would happen if a fire broke out during his fight in the city Saturday against Matt Serra, as transcribed by Yahoo! Sports
“He’s obviously fought the best of the best, and I’ve maybe [fought] the worst of the worst -- the worst, locally, anyway. Maybe I’m the best of the worst. Maybe he’s the worst of the best, and I’m the best of the worst. Half the people in there will believe anything they read. I told some guy I was smoking crack to make the weight, and I’ve got guys telling me, ‘Listen, you don’t want to smoke crack that close to the fight.’ I’ve got guys sending me e-mail advice on ways to pass drug tests and everything.” -- Sean McCorkle on his UFC debut against Mark Hunt on Saturday and some of his trolling comments on The Underground forums
“I’m thinking, you make a challenge, you sell the fight, you make a promotion, it’s good. But you need to be careful talking about some things like Brazil. You’re talking bad things about Brazil. You don’t know Brazil. In Brazil, we have a saying. You have respect, you don’t lose your teeth.” -- Wanderlei Silva to Chael Sonnen in a car ride during a UFC press tour in a video posted to WandFightTeam’s YouTube page
“We want people to think of him as Georges St. Pierre first, then athlete, then fighter.” -- Shari Spencer, St. Pierre’s manager, to The New York Times in a profile on GSP as a matinee idol for the sport
“He’s rude. He doesn’t want to do things, you know, yeah, exactly, so I mean that’s what it is. Georges wants to come across as the squeaky-clean guy, and his image is so important. If I don’t like you, I’ll tell you. What you see is what you get with Josh Koscheck, you know. If I don’t like you, guess what? I’m going to tell you to kiss my ass, you know, I’m not afraid to tell you that and quite frankly, you know what? I don’t give a [expletive]. I don’t care if people don’t like me. But guess what? When you meet me and we get along and we click, you’re going to fall in love with me. I don’t know you, Mike, but if that was the case, I would tell you. Georges ain’t. He will fake it and he’d kiss your ass and he’d be like, ‘Oh, yeah, [interviewer], you’re doing a good job of this interview,’ and then he’d hang up that phone and be like, ‘The guy was a [expletive] douche bag; that interview sucked. What kind of [expletive] questions was he asking me?’ At least I’m going to tell you up front right to your face. Georges won’t. So that’s the way I look at it.” -- Josh Koscheck on “Inside The Ultimate Fighter” podcast as transcribed by FightOpinion.com
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The Week Ahead
UFC 119 and Dream 16 sees several significant fights etched into the history books, and WEC 51 features the latest outing from Jose Aldo, the world’s top featherweight.