UFC Vegas 7 Post-Fight Press Conference Transcript: Dana White, Pedro Munhoz Speak to Media

Dana White: (00:16) Hey, guys. Kev. Reporter: (00:21) First of all, how'd you see the fight? I mean, did you agree with the decision? Dana White: (00:25) Yeah. I just got asked that by ESPN too. It was a close fight. It was close. If they'd have said Munoz, I wouldn't have said, "Oh my God, it's crazy." Either one of those guys could have won that fight. Reporter: (00:36) Do you think this proves Edgar still has a run as an elite fighter? I mean, obviously, he was struggling in the other division, he gets down here, he looked like he belonged there and was really good. Dana White: (00:46) Of course. Yeah. I mean, what's funny is Joe Silva texted me tonight and said, "Remember when Frankie would get pissed at us when we would tell him to move down from 155?" And here he is tonight. But, yeah, he just fought the number five guy in the world, and he won. Reporter: (01:04) Is this something like years ago, it was not as hard to do fighting up, but right now in this era, when you're talking about how many great fighters there are and all these weight classes, that it becomes that much harder, and given the competition is that much close that you couldn't do now, what he did then? Dana White: (01:20) 100%. I mean, as you look back on a lot of things that happened in the early days, you couldn't do now that you did then. On any given night in this sport, man, there's some tough people out there. Look at Dobson tonight. You know what I mean? She was like a minus 1,500 or something like that. She came out and fought her ass off and won and looked good doing it. So you never know. Reporter: (01:45) And the other thing I wanted to ask you. Now, obviously, Frankie Edgar's shit proven his toughness over the years time and time again. But I mean, he was getting that leg chopped up, and it was almost like he ignored it, even though as much as it was getting beaten up. Dana White: (01:57) He ignored until the fifth. He got in the fifth. He actually won't be here. He got transported. So I'm sure his leg is really busted up. Yeah. He ate a lot of leg kicks tonight. Interviewer 2: (02:10) In terms of performance, do you think he looked better at Bantamweight than he had done at Featherweight? Dana White: (02:18) I mean, listen, the guy's going to be 38 years old in October or November. To say that he looked better at 155, 145, or whatever, I mean, the career that the guy has had has been unbelievable. And the fact that he's still performing the way that he's performing at his age, and the wars that he's been through, and all the things that he's accomplished, yeah, I'd say look pretty damn good tonight. Interviewer 2: (02:42) It was a great card as well. We had some crazy comebacks. In fact, in the opening fight, we had Trevin Jones survive the first round beating and come back and [crosstalk 00:02:48]. Dana White: (02:49) Oh, yeah. Dobson/Jones won the performance of the night. And the fight of the night was Munoz versus Edgar. They all won $50,000. Interviewer 2: (02:58) What do you it says about Dodson that she can come in as this huge underdog and still mentally just go, "No. That's fine," and- Dana White: (03:05) I love that shit. I mean, that's incredible. And I was telling Kevin earlier, when that fight was being made, and she had a record of three and four, and we have a girl at nine and one, and I'm like, "Come on, guys." And credit to Mick Maynard, man. Mick said that he actually liked Dobson in that fight. He said, "She's got way more UFC experience. And trust me, this'll be a very, very close fight." Nick Maynard said that he was right. I said, "Man, don't make us look like fucking top rank." And he didn't. Interviewer 2: (03:40) Yeah. A few things outside of tonight. I don't think you've been asked this yet. What was behind the decision to let Corey Anderson go to Bellator or to be released from his contract? Dana White: (03:50) Yeah. First of all, it's the right move for him. This isn't something that we've never done before. And I think that he feels, and we feel, that he can be more competitive there. Interviewer 2: (04:12) Did you see Scott Coker's comments that Bellator now has the best light heavyweight division in MMA. And would you agree? Dana White: (04:19) I didn't. Isn't he cute? Interviewer 2: (04:24) And lastly, a couple of things more for me. Recently, Tony Ferguson has been on social media hinting that he's got a fight. Have you guys got a fight lined up for Tony? Dana White: (04:32) We do. Interviewer 2: (04:33) Can I make a guess who it is? Dana White: (04:35) Huh? Interviewer 2: (04:35) Can I guess who it is? Dana White: (04:36) Sure. Interviewer 2: (04:37) Dustin Poirier? Dana White: (04:38) Probably. Interviewer 2: (04:39) Okay. And then finally, last one, a good friend of yours. Oscar de LA Hoya has announced he's coming out of retirement to box again. I just wondered if you had any- Dana White: (04:49) Cocaine isn't cheap. It's expensive. You got to make money. Interviewer 2: (04:56) I understand. Reporter: (04:56) Okay. Looking at Pedro, what do you do with them after this? I mean, granted, it's Frankie. He's a legend. He came over. This loss, does it move Pedro down, or is he still kind of stay where he is at in the division? Dana White: (05:09) What's the question? Reporter: (05:09) So you've got Frankie come in, and Pedro took a loss, but he took a loss against a legend. I mean, this can't knock them far down in the rankings, right? Dana White: (05:15) I don't know. It's going to be interesting. Because Frankie comes in unranked. You know where Frankie's going to go. It'll be interesting to see where Pedro goes. I'm trying to think of something that just blew my mind in the rankings recently. Somebody just fought, and it was a really close fight, and it was tight. Fuck. I wish somebody was here that can remind me. Jim Grieshaber: (05:38) [inaudible 00:05:38]. Dana White: (05:38) Who? Jim Grieshaber: (05:38) [inaudible 00:05:42]. Dana White: (05:38) Who? Jim Grieshaber: (05:38) [inaudible 00:05:47]. Dana White: (05:48) No. Jim Grieshaber: (05:48) [inaudible 00:05:50]. No. I don't think so. But we got back in, and on Tuesday when it was up, I was like, "How the fuck is that possible that this guy or this girl, whoever it was, would drop this far in the rankings when the fight... I can't remember what it was, but answer your question, who knows what these guys will do. You know what I mean? And with the rankings, we'll see. Reporter: (06:11) And you mentioned Dobson. She was coming in. It's been some time since she's had these losses accumulate, but she did come in with three losses, but you did say she had a great performance. Is it a matter of the last impression is where these fighters stand? I mean, does she kind of erase those losses and is she back, I guess, in the good graces of how she's performing? Dana White: (06:30) Yeah. Look, tonight was a do or die for her. You know what I mean? Like I told him, I said, Mick felt like... He liked Dobson in that fight when he did it. When you have a girl that's coming in from outside the UFC, and that was only, I think, her second UFC fight, and this other girl's had like six UFC fights, it's a lot different. Reporter: (06:58) And last one for me. Can you explain the timeline of what happened with OSP and why that fight was decided to get called off when it was? Dana White: (07:06) Oh, the doctor called it off. Reporter: (07:10) But it was due to the COVID test? Or- Dana White: (07:11) Yeah. I guess. Yeah. Reporter: (07:13) When did that test happen? Because we saw him at the weigh-ins, and I guess we assumed he was good. Dana White: (07:16) I have no clue. Yeah. I have no clue. Reporter: (07:18) Okay. Dana White: (07:18) You'd have to ask them that, not me. Reporter: (07:20) Okay. Thank you. Dana White: (07:21) All right. Jim Grieshaber: (07:22) Dana, right here. Jim Grieshaber, cage side seat. Can you just talk about what's next for Frankie? He said that Pedro's top five, and he's looking at a title shot, and he's 38. So how soon do you see that possibly happening for him in that it's a pretty stacked division. Dana White: (07:34) Yeah. I don't know. I mean, obviously, there's some things that have to play out, and there's people ahead of him. He put on a good showing tonight and put himself in a good position, but he's got some work to do there. Jim Grieshaber: (07:49) Maybe a couple more fights. Dana White: (07:50) Yeah. Two or one. I don't know. We'll see. It depends on who he fights next. Jim Grieshaber: (07:55) Yeah. He looked quick out there, looked good. I want to ask you about Mike Rodriguez. He gets bumped up to [inaudible 00:07:58], really took advantage of that opportunity to look great in there. Dana White: (08:02) Yeah. He came in and blew the doors off the place tonight. He looked good, man. Big dude, great fight. Jim Grieshaber: (08:11) Fighters stepping up and getting those opportunities and bumping up, moving up cards, being on TV and guys staying... We got a couple of guys tonight. One had a 22-week camp and other guy that was in camp for 14, 15 weeks, just staying ready. He was going to be on the contender series. Any fights tonight? I mean, can you just talk about fighters in this unusual world, just staying ready and being there when the call comes. Dana White: (08:31) Yeah. No. This was probably... He was just asking about OSP. This has probably been the craziest week we've had since this whole thing started and it wasn't just... I mean, I have to commend the production team tonight. Dude, we lost like seven production people too. It's been a crazy week for us, and everybody delivered, and these fighters keep stepping up. Production teams stepped up tonight. These are crazy times. Jim Grieshaber: (08:59) Crazy is always the norm in the fight game, but this is just nuts, right? I mean- Dana White: (09:03) It's- Jim Grieshaber: (09:03) -The norm in the fight game, but this is just nuts. Dana White: (09:03) It's insanity, and the matchmaker. The matchmakers are making fights like the day of the weigh-ins. It's crazy. Jim Grieshaber: (09:12) Thank you, Dana. I appreciate it. Dana White: (09:14) Yep. Speaker 1: (09:14) Hey Dana, now that we just saw Pedro Munhoz and Frankie Edgar, is it safe to say that Alijamain Sterling is next in line for the title shot against Petr Yan? Dana White: (09:23) Yeah. Speaker 1: (09:25) Daniel Rodriguez, third fight in 2020. He came up in the Albuquerque fight card and [inaudible 00:09:31] victories. What's next for a guy like him? He's not young. He's 33 years old. He's been very impressive. What would you like to see him do next? Dana White: (09:39) Yeah, he looked damn good. I don't know, we'll have to get in there on Tuesday and figure out what the next step is for him, how soon he wants to fight. It's crazy, we have all these young guys that want to turn around quick, and everybody wants to keep fighting. So, I don't know if he's one of those guys, but we'll see. Speaker 1: (09:57) Thank you. Speaker 2: (10:00) I wasn't going to bring this up, but somebody else already did. I remember back in the day you guys used to do cross-promotional stuff. Of course, with Pride, you acquired them and everything like that. When I've talked to Scott Coker in the past, and he's really game about doing cross-promotional fights. Would you ever do that with an organization that you guys don't own? Dana White: (10:19) With who? Speaker 2: (10:19) With Bellator. Dana White: (10:22) With who? Speaker 2: (10:24) Well, we talked about Bader. Dana White: (10:25) Guys, everybody they have in their light heavy weight division, we let go of. He's got the best light heavy weight division. We let those guys all go. It's like the fucking dumbest thing I've ever heard. Speaker 2: (10:39) He's got- Dana White: (10:39) But I get it. He's got to try to fucking do his thing. I'm not shitting on him. He's got to try to do his thing. He's got to try to sell fights. The way you don't sell fights is, "Oh, I got the best light heavy weight division in the world." I mean, everybody that was there was let go from here. It's a pretty silly statement. Speaker 2: (10:57) Juan Archuleta is a pretty good name. Dana White: (11:00) What? Speaker 2: (11:01) Juan Archuleta? Dana White: (11:02) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Speaker 2: (11:02) He's a pretty good name. There's a lot of them. I can't think of them off the top of my head, but okay. I got your- Dana White: (11:08) But what "Super Fight" would I make with Bellator? Speaker 2: (11:10) I don't know, I guess none, now that you gave me that answer. Jon Jones has been trying to engage you on social media for several weeks. I see you haven't really taken the bait and beefed with him. He dropped a bombshell on us. Did he do that straight over social media? Did he let you guys know that he was going to vacate the title? Dana White: (11:30) Yeah, you know we've been talking to him through the whole thing. We've been talking to him, yeah. Speaker 2: (11:36) Where do we go with Jon Jones from here? It sounds light heavy weight's inevitable at this point. Dana White: (11:40) Yeah, when he's ready to fight he'll let us know. Speaker 2: (11:43) Cool. Cool. I noticed on a lot of the fights that are coming out for the rest of the year, that the location is still TBD. Are we going to see a return to Fight Island? Or is everything going to finish out here at the [crosstalk 00:11:54]- Dana White: (11:54) Yeah, no we'll go back to Fight Island. Yeah, we'll have some announcements soon. We're just getting everything dialed in. Speaker 2: (11:59) Okay, great. Thanks. Last thing from me is, can everybody just get a bonus tonight? Dana White: (12:04) No, yes. Speaker 2: (12:04) I mean this card was amazing. Dana White: (12:06) Yes. The answer to that is yes. The bonuses went to Dobson, Jones, Munoz and Edgar, but I'm going to write a bunch of checks next week. 100%. Dana White: (12:17) Yep. Speaker 3: (12:19) Right here. Dana, ESPN reported yesterday that Amanda's defending against Megan in 145. Is that true? Dana White: (12:27) Yes. Speaker 3: (12:28) [crosstalk 00:12:28] or what do you want to happen with the 135 belt? Is it going to be an interim, or you want her to defend until next year, the middle of next year? Dana White: (12:35) Which welt? 135? Speaker 3: (12:36) Yeah, [crosstalk 00:12:37]- Dana White: (12:36) No, she'll defend it. She can defend both belts. She's got plenty of time to do that, yeah. Speaker 3: (12:41) Is it going to be another 15, 16 months? Is it going to be a chance for an interim belt- Dana White: (12:46) No. Speaker 3: (12:48) [crosstalk 00:12:48]. Dana White: (12:48) No. Speaker 4: (12:50) Dana, just quickly, have you had any conversations with Michael Chandler's people at all? Dana White: (12:54) I haven't personally, no. Speaker 4: (12:55) Do you know if anybody here has? Dana White: (12:57) I don't. I told you that we're interested in talking to him. He knows that. I don't know what the deal is with his contract, so when is contract is up and when everything is legal to talk to him, I'm sure we'll be talking to him. Speaker 5: (13:15) Dana, you said months ago that you would build the division for Amanda, 145. When are we going to be able to see the rankings in more girls' fighting 145? Dana White: (13:35) When can we see rankings? Speaker 6: (13:37) Yeah, rankings for girls [crosstalk 00:13:38]- Dana White: (13:38) Yeah, yeah. We literally talked about that last week in matchmaker meeting, and that's all in the works right now. We're working on that. Nick's all over that. Speaker 5: (13:54) I have another question, Charles Oliveira, is he going to fight Beneil Dariush? Speaker 6: (13:57) Is Charles Oliveira going to fight [crosstalk 00:14:02]- Dana White: (14:02) Oh, I don't know. I don't know off the top of my head. Speaker 5: (14:05) He was complaining that there's no top five or top 10 that is going to say yes to fight him. Is it true, the top 10 fighters are avoid to fight Charles Oliveira? Dana White: (14:19) I don't know that either. I don't know that. Speaker 5: (14:22) My last question, you were talking about Bellator with him. What do you think about Patrício Freire, Patrício "Pit Bull", the Brazilian fighter who has two belts in Bellator? Dana White: (14:32) What do I think about what? Speaker 5: (14:35) Patrício Freire. Patrício "Pit Bull". Dana White: (14:38) Oh, Pit Bull? Speaker 5: (14:39) Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think about him as a fighter? Dana White: (14:43) I don't know. I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't know. Yeah. I'm sorry, I have trouble hearing. If you're on my left side and you have even the slightest accent, I have trouble hearing. We good? Speaker 6: (14:57) Yeah. Dana White: (14:58) Thank you guys. Reporter: (24:28) (silence). Hey, Pedro. I assume you felt you won the fight. Pedro Munhoz: (24:33) I'm sorry. Can you repeat again? Reporter: (24:36) Do you feel you won the fight? Pedro Munhoz: (24:38) Yeah, without a doubt. I was, just right now, with the doctor getting some stitches and then some of my coaches, Dan Lambert, he was just showing me 17 of the media score. The 20 media score, 17 gave me the fight. 17, so only three gave to him. Also, I saw the punching scores. I had first, third, fourth and the fifth rounds. It is what it is. Reporter: (25:18) Obviously, you were doing a number on his lead leg. While Frankie had those couple of take ins, he didn't do much with it so, primarily, it was a striking battle but you added in the leg kicks, which he didn't have. Do you feel that was made maybe the difference in the fight? Pedro Munhoz: (25:32) Not even the leg kicks, I was hurting him with the jabs. I chased him five rounds. He got a couple of take downs but he couldn't do anything with the take downs. I got back up right away and I was looking for the finish. Reporter: (25:56) Did you feel at any point you ever had him in trouble where he might be close to going out? Pedro Munhoz: (26:01) Yes. A few times, to be honest with you. I'm not taking anything from him. He's a hell of a fighter. I have nothing but respect to him and all his team. I really feel and I saw a few times he was hurt. He's pretty tough so he hided that really good. But I felt like throw like some cross, some hooks, some couple of tip kicks on his blacks and on his body. The leg kicks, he was hiding really good. Sometimes I would just fake it, that I'm going to throw the kick and he was falling, so probably was hurt. My last two fights, both of my opponents, he just left with his scratches. They couldn't walk out of the cage. Reporter: (27:00) How disappointed do you feel when you say you had opportunity. Reporter: (27:03) How disappointed do you feel when you say you had opportunities to finish him, that you weren't able to take advantage of those? Right? I mean, will you be critical of yourself when you look back at it that you didn't take advantage of those opportunities? Pedro Munhoz: (27:12) Not at all, not at all. He's tough. I just didn't want to go to [inaudible 00:00:18], try to get the finish and then he use it as an advantage of him or hurt me and things like that. So, fighting guys in UFC, we talking about the best fighters in the world. We talking about no warming fights here. Every single fight could be a title fight. And everybody here is super tough. I saw that I hurt him a few times. He wanted to win this fight. So do I. And so it was ... Reporter: (27:52) Pedro, last thing from me then, this is a guy that's been a lightweight and now he's in this division. When you compare him, you're ranked number five, you fought the former champion, you fought the guy who's going to fight for the championship next. How do you think he ranks and does he fit in with the elite guys in this division, in your opinion, and can he sustain competing against these good guys from what you could tell tonight? Pedro Munhoz: (28:14) We thought it out. We thought it out. I know he seems very healthy. He seems very strong, tough, good cardio, a lot of good skills and yeah, no, he's definitely belongs there in the top five in the division. You know, I just want fair things, you know what I mean? I just don't want to lose to people that have a better reputation than I do or people that is a former champ and things like that. So, that's my point. I want it just, fair. Fair scores. Interviewer 2: (28:45) Just going off that. So, do you believe his reputation can help sway the judges when it's very close round? Pedro Munhoz: (28:51) It could be. So I cannot be a hundred percent ... I can't be a hundred percent sure about it. So I just, once you see the score, once they see like 20 of his media score, 17 gave me that fight. That's the only thing that I can think of right now, and this is at the moment, just the reputation. His name, legend. Interviewer 2: (29:15) Is it a, I mean, obviously every fighter wants to avenge their loss, but does this one particularly, would you like to have a rematch? Pedro Munhoz: (29:22) You know, I'm always down to fight anyone. I never chosen any opponent. I'm down to fight anyone, anytime. So, yeah. That would be good if we get to have a rematch or, you know. Interviewer 2: (29:36) And last thing from me, I know you said that he's a quality fighter, but I'm interested, did he feel like a bantam weight? You know, he spent so long at lightweight and then featherweight, did he feel like a naturally-sized bantam weight to you? Pedro Munhoz: (29:47) Yeah, without a doubt. We probably felt very close alongside each other. You know, we were the same size, both 5'6". He had just a little bit long reach and I was able to defend a lot of his take downs. I was pushing him with my pressure. And so I think he's found the right division. Speaker 7: (30:13) I know after a loss as a fighter can go back and watch tape and see what they maybe thought that they could do better. I know in your mind you feel that you did win the fight, but if you start going back and looking at the fight, I know it just happened in your head, what are the areas that you think that you maybe could have did a little bit better that maybe would have swayed the judges? Pedro Munhoz: (30:30) Yeah, that's going to be for my coaches to doing that job. You know, my job is just to go there and perform, try to get the finish and that's my extent. That's in my own DNA. Fight is not what I do, it is who I am. So, that job is going to be for my coaches to see what I did, what I could do better and things like that. Speaker 7: (30:54) And I know you're number five. He was coming into the division unranked, but taking a loss against a guy like Frankie, who, like you said, should be in the elite of the division. How far do you think that this might drop you back in the rankings and would you hope that it maybe just stay the same and maybe just bring Frankie up and over? Pedro Munhoz: (31:13) I don't know about that. You know, this is not of my control. You know, this is completely out of my control. The media could probably could have put me back at number 20, put him number one, is going for the title. So, at the end of the day, I just want to a fairer score. Speaker 7: (31:35) And last one for me, I guess what's the immediate, what do you do right now? Go back, just rest with the family? How soon until you want to get back into the gym and start preparing again and, I guess, what's the next step? Pedro Munhoz: (31:46) Yeah, right now, just go back home. Be mad for a couple of days and ... me kidding. At the end of the day I'm very grateful for what I do, for the people that I have around me, for my family, for my friends, for my real friends, for my training partners, my coaches, the people here, Dan Lambert, [inaudible 00:32:11] [inaudible 00:32:11] [inaudible 00:05:11], Michael, all these people. It's like at the end of the day that's what matters for me. You know, is just having people, good people, around us and spread the love. Speaker 8: (32:20) Okay. Thanks for coming. Speaker 9: (32:20) We're all set. Speaker 8: (32:55) He's not here. [crosstalk 00:32:55]