UFC 75 Conference Call

AE14

Board Sponsor
This was huge. Dana White held the UFC 75 Conference call. HEre are some notes:

1. Babalu is fired
2. In response to Josh Barnett's comments about Coture White said "who the hell cares about Josh Barnett"
3. Ryo Chonan is not signed
4. Hendo would be a top contender at 185 if he moves down
5. Not interested in signing Kang although they have talked.

Wow, I gotta agree with the Babalu move. It was a punk move that makes MMA look like a barbarian **** fight instead of a true sport.
 
Wow I figured a suspension, but woah. I guess you've got to make an example out of him, if someone got hurt due to an extended submission after a fight was over after Babalu had already done it, White would get torn apart by the media.
 
Babalu's a punk, but firing him seems a little harsh. Oh well, I don't see him ever being top 5 at 205 anyway.

I care about Josh Barnett.

Not interested in Kang :think:. That makes no sense to me. He's one of the most exciting guys out there.
 
I care about Barnett especially since he beat the hell out of Randy in their fight. They have both improved immensely since then and who doesn't want to see a fight between 2 top-5 fghters?
 
i think they should have put babalu in the cage with fedor in a fight to the death. no but seriously, good move. hes a punk, when a fights over a fights over. so he talked crap, boo hoo. go cry to mommy if you got a problem. this is a sport not a war.
 
sf9ersfan8 said:
i think they should have put babalu in the cage with fedor in a fight to the death. no but seriously, good move. hes a punk, when a fights over a fights over. so he talked crap, boo hoo. go cry to mommy if you got a problem. this is a sport not a war.
Click to expand...

Guess you didn't know that Babalu faught Fedor...
 
I dont mind the firing, in the new 205 he couldnt compete IMO.

I am surprised with the Kang comments, and I would love to see Barnett in the cage personally
 
Sir Savage said:
What the hell did Babalu do? I didn't see it.
Click to expand...

It wasn't televised I don't think...

UFCDaily.com said:
According to the UFC Sobral has in fact been fined $25,000 and may face other disciplinary action from the NSAC.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral, who defeated David Heath last night at UFC 74 with a second round anaconda choke, has had half of his $50,000 paycheck withheld after he refused to release the choke despite a tap out from Heath and pleas from referee Steve Mazzagatti:

Sobral ended up in trouble with the Nevada State Athletic Commission over not releasing the choke for several seconds after Heath tapped out. The Nevada State Athletic Commission withheld $25,000 from Sobral’s purse after the match. The grudge started the day before at the weigh-ins when Sobral said Heath used profanity at him as they had just finished squaring off for the cameras.

No fine has been sanctioned against the fighter yet but the Nevada State Athletic Commission will review video of the incident and will then decide whether to fine Sobral and, if fined, how much of his pay he will be docked.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, hard to say how bad it was from that description of it.

A lot of guys give their opponent a little something extra at the finish for talking ****.

Hell, I'd probably do the same.
 
Here's Chris Howie's write-up from the UFC 75 media conference call held earlier today with Dana White, Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping and Matt Hamill:

-Dana says he has been meeting with Fedor's people for months and will be today. Hopes there could be a release by the end of the day but can't say that for sure.

-Rampage is ready.

- Hendo says Rampage is very atheletic and a great striker. He's going to have to be on his A-game.

-Bisping says he isn't too keen on Hamill.

-Dana says the UFC is doing the complete opposite of what boxing has done. Will be offering free fights that people want to see instead of "****ty" fights with people no one has heard of.

-Guys from TUF will fight on Fight Nights and new talent will be on on Fight Nights and prelims.

-Rampage says that even though he is champion he can't take the belt in the cage so it doesn't change anything.

-Hendo says that training for top level fights is tough. Saya Quinton is tough in all aspects and he is expecting a 25 minute war.

-Dana on Babalu: if it had of been an arm or an ankle he probably wouldn't be on fighting anywhere ever again. At this time he has been cut from his contract.

-If Dan goes to 185 it's possible he gets a direct shot at Silva but he may have one fight first.

-Rampage says that he would've liked to take the belt from Wanderlei

-Pride belt is gone after this fight. There will be one champion after this fight.

-Dana has no clue what he'll be doing with the Lightweight title.

-The fact Rampage and Hendo have trained before doesn't play a factor in Hendo's training. It was so long ago that there would be nothing he could look back at and pick up.

-Rampage says training went excellent. Bisping was there helping him train. Says he was still in good shape from the Chuck fight because it wasn't that long ago.

-Rampage says his biggest concern is that Dan is very tough and unpredictable.

-Rampage says he is a different person when he gets in the cage.

-Says he is taking this more serious than any fight.

-Dana confirms that Randy's arm was broke by the kick and he won't be able to train for at least 6 weeks.

-Bisping says that fighting at home provides a big advantage.

-Hamill says that he has no big concerns about Bisping, all that worries him is his kicks.

-Dana says the last thing he wants to do is bury Pride but it is going to take some time to sort things out.

-Dana says that dealing with Japan is tough.

-Dana says the two coaches on this seasons TUF did not get along well at all.

-Hendo says he has gotten busier since he won the title. He is the same person just with little time. Hendo had a new baby girl last night.

-Dana says that the Pride name is not very good in Japan anymore because of everything that happened. Says they are lucky to even get office space in Japan.

-Rampage says when he knew Hendo would KO Wanderlei when he heard Dan was fighting him. Says that Dan didn't fight the same Wanderlei that everyone was use to, not to take anything away from Dan.

-Rampage doesn't think he'll have an edge over Henderson because of the cage.

-Dana says they did not sign Ryo Chonan but there was a pause before he answered.

-Dana puts over how big this fight is. Rampage KO'd Chuck and Dan KO'd Wandy - now they are on a free fight on Spike TV. Could you ask for anything better?

-Bisping says that fighting Hamill is a fight that everyone wanted to see from watching TUF.

-Dana: "Nobody gives a **** about Josh Barnett, especially me".

-Dana says Shogun is a contender for the title right now. Says they have "everyone" from Pride. When asked about Denis Kang, Dana says Denis isn't one of the big stars from Pride.

-Hendo says that he doesn't really care about a rematch with Wandy he'll fight anyone.

-Bisping says by beating Hamill it lets him know that he can do well against world class wrestlers.

-Hamill says that he has been doing a lot of work on his striking.

-Dana says that he assumes Babalu "isn't too f*ckin happy".

A few other things I've read -

Sergei Kharitinov has signed with K-1 Heros and that Joachim Hansen was offered and rejected a UFC Contract.

The Press I have been reading suggests that if the UFC does'nt get the former Pride Fighters soon, that the majority will be signing with K-1 Heros, apart from Fedor, who wants to stay a free agent if he does not make a deal with the UFC very soon.
 
What Josh Barnett said about Couture -

“Let’s get straight to it and say that Randy did a phenomenal job at UFC 74 in defending his title. As a fan and a fellow Washingtonian I was happy to see him win. But as for the title itself — it still sits in my house. No one in UFC ever beat me for it, and as far as I am concerned, no one in the UFC can be the heavyweight champion until they take that belt off of me in the cage. At the post fight press conference, Dana White said ‘there isn’t anyone in the world that can beat this guy’ in reference to Randy. All this because Randy beat a guy that had less than ten fights and only one noteworthy win? That’s not even a world championship level fight, let alone reason to proclaim the winner as ‘unbeatable.’ This comment was made even more ridiculous by the fact that I was standing right there, living proof that Randy Couture is definitely beatable. ‘Unbeatable,’ Dana says. If he actually believes that, I’m more than willing to step into the cage and prove him wrong. It wouldn’t even have to be for the belt. I already got the real belt. They can keep their pile of brass they purport as the UFC Heavyweight Title and put it on their next paper champ.”
 
Sir Savage said:
Hmm, hard to say how bad it was from that description of it.

A lot of guys give their opponent a little something extra at the finish for talking ****.

Hell, I'd probably do the same.
Click to expand...

View the dailymotion vid in the discussion thread, SS. Sobral's GNP was, in a good light, dominating and in a bad one, punishing, multi pints of blood from Heath's forehead pouring to the mat and topped with a choke hold held extra long into a sleeper. Babalu turned an impersonal professional comeback victory into a vicious personal grudge match, ugly.

He could have shrugged off the excess choke hold by just taking the victory, but he exposed himself to sanction with his declaration of it being a pay back.

The background to this was that Heath wore a T-Shirt at the weigh ins with Babalu's mugshot on it from his Casino disorderly conduct arrest , pissed Sobral off.

Edit - Dailymotion vid has been removed. PM me if y'all want next day viewing of the unaired prelims.
 
Some good info there, thanks.

I think firing Babalu was a little much. A lot of guys hold a little long, but all that blood and when he admitted it put it over the top. He should have just said "In the heat of the battle I got a little to worked up and wanted to make sure I got the win before letting go of the choke. I didn't mean to put him to sleep and I apologize"

I wish Barnett would come back, but he has to know when he starts saying he's the champ and the UFC is a paper champ, that Dana takes these things personally and will probably blackball him from the UFC.

Fedor needs the UFC more than the UFC needs Fedor. Everyone needs the UFC and Fedor to come together.
 
Alright guys, I don't mean to be a dickhead, but I didn't really think it was THAT big of a deal.

Sure, he took it a little far, but so have many other guys, including the UFC's golden boy, Hughes. And he didn't get fired. Imagine that.
 
I really didn't think it was that big either. It was the blood everywhere that made it look a lot worse than it was.
 
TheNinja said:
Fedor needs the UFC more than the UFC needs Fedor. Everyone needs the UFC and Fedor to come together.
Click to expand...

Fedor doesn't need the UFC at all, he's proven he's the best and he has made enough money to retire if he wants. Thus the difficulty in signing him... The UFC really wants Fedor because as long as they don't have him, they don't have "the best" and it makes their claim of being the "big show" look slightly dubious. They can still spout that rubbish now because many American fans don't know of him, but if another organization were to sign him for American shows that would change in a hurry.
 
TheNinja said:
I wish Barnett would come back, but he has to know when he starts saying he's the champ and the UFC is a paper champ, that Dana takes these things personally and will probably blackball him from the UFC.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the truth. Dana has a huge ego (do you remember the 90 min love letter to himself called Tito vs. Dana the Untold Story or whatever). Barnett just pissed him off and may have ruined his chance at competing for the real belt. Barnett was probably going into his prowrestler persona more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top