UFC President Dana White announced at the UFC Vegas 67 post-fight press conference on Saturday that Jon Jones vs Ciryl …
what’s up gang uh ige kapalov Umar and uh nacimento all got the bonuses fifty thousand dollars and then the other two guys that had finishes too uh I’ll end up taking care of them and getting fifty thousand but they’ll do all right I guess uh first question’s got to be about uh the heavyweight fight so I guess I’ll jump right into that yes T-Mobile blew the fight uh that wasn’t supposed to go up but it did um this is for the official heavyweight title you know we’ve been working on a new agreement with Francis for like two years now and uh we had gotten to a point where uh you know he was going to fight Jon Jones and many many who believe including me that he’s the best of all time um you know for the heavyweight championship and Jon Jones has been willing and ready and able to fight anybody he didn’t care who it was could have been anybody in the heavyweight division he was ready to go um and Francis we offered Francis a deal that would have made him the highest paid heavyweight in the history of the company more than less or more than anybody um and he turned the deal down so you know I I don’t know what you know we we get to this point where I I’ve told you guys this before if you don’t want to be here but you don’t have to be here uh you know I think Francis is in a place right now where he wants he doesn’t want to take a lot of risk feels like he’s in a good position um where he could fight lesser opponents and and make more money so we’re gonna we’re gonna let him do that we’re going to release him from his contract we’re going to give up our right to match and he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants um and uh yeah that’s where we’re at when was that decision made Daniel is that I mean how long have you known that this was going to be the case that Francis was gone well we’ve been negotiating with him for two years you know and there were a lot of different you know even now I mean the guy away was just weighing over 300 pounds just had knee surgery hasn’t really had a had a real training camp and I think that probably has a lot to do it with it as far as Francis is concerned too um you know he doesn’t know what’s going to happen with his knee how his knee you know he’s not getting younger so um you know I don’t even think he would have been ready for March so you know we can’t continue to hold up the division and not come to an agreement with this guy we did everything we could to try to make this fight happen and try to give him the fight but you know he’s got it in his head that there’s there’s bigger opportunities outside the UFC with um you know lesser opponents did this just come down to a dollar figure I mean or was it like other things like I want a bigger portion of paper no I think that you’re looking at you’re going to fight arguably the greatest fighter of all time you’d be the highest paid heavyweight ever in UFC history or you think there’s more money out there to fight somebody who isn’t the greatest of all time somebody who is a lesser opponent I mean you’ll have to ask Francis that question but in my opinion that’s what it is which isn’t the first time that’s happened here it’s not like this is this is something that’s never happened before there’s been other guys that have come to us and said you know I don’t want to compete at this level anymore did you get the feeling that he was negotiating in good faith or just really didn’t want to be here at all I don’t know no I mean I I doubt he’d just hang out for two years and continue to negotiate and you know I don’t know I don’t think he thought the Jon Jones fight would really happen that’s that’s what I think I think I think he didn’t think that that would really come to fruition but it did Jon Jones was literally ready to fight anybody he didn’t care who it was and we could have done a fight with John back in you know October November December and and we we kept uh you know we kept trying to get this deal done with Francis and then finally it just you know we we got to the realization that it wasn’t going to happen so the last thing for me on that so just be clear 100 free and clear he could sign a contract with anybody in the world tomorrow no matching no counter no nothing he’s just gone 100 and this is that you know this is for the official heavyweight title I was just gonna ask you about that I mean not the fight we were expecting but I think when people saw it people did get pretty excited what’s your what’s your thoughts on you know Jones versus God yeah I mean listen you have you know if you look at the fight with Francis and Cyril it was a damn close fight so there’s no doubt that those two guys are the best heavyweights in the world and for John to come out and face either one of them is exciting it’s fun I did want to ask you about Sean Strickland tonight obviously coming and kind of saving the main event on short notice what’d you think of his performance and he’s kind of an interesting character he’s a bad boy coming in and taking a fight on a week’s notice uh is impressive yeah it’s awesome you look great lastly for me I guess I just want to ask kind of where you stand the continued Fallout of everything that’s happened are you you know I’m sure you’ve seen the reaction or what everybody’s saying I mean are you about what about the New Year’s Eve and sin have you moved past it at this point or do you feel like you’re gonna have to keep addressing this every time you’re up here at the dance or do you feel like I’ll probably be addressing it for the rest of my life you know I mean I just talked about it what two days ago yeah then white over here David probably good seeing you again um so what was your overall assessment of the entire evening is there any photos that stood out to you uh uh at this fight night the Copa love Puna fight was awesome awesome fight I think Puna is so tough and durable and has a ton of heart and Kobe love looked incredible tonight I I mean you guys were out there every jab that he landed was nasty that inside leg kick to the calf was nasty and then once he he he he’s got unbelievable Killer Instinct once he he smelt blood in the water with that body shot he just kept attacking the body until he finished the fight incredible performance and the Jon Jones fight uh versus gain is actually fairly interesting I mean they bring up a fair amount of problems to each other uh what’s your personal assessment on uh that fight yeah I agree I you know both incredibly talented guys uh Cyril gone is a heavyweight that moves like a you know like a middleweight um he’s got a really well-rounded game game and you know Jon Jones is the best ever do it in my opinion so uh you couldn’t ask for a better fight congratulations on another great evening thank you appreciate it Dana going on the John Jones is the best ever in your opinion do you think if he comes back after three years away and wins a title in another division there’s no denying to anyone that he’s probably the greatest uh yeah I mean I’m a big believer in ring rust I think I mean Ali took three years off and and didn’t look the same when he came back uh we’ll see what happened with John one of the things that you know John has put the weight on naturally though he didn’t do it overnight it’s taking taking a long time and he’s ready to roll he’s excited to fight so we’ll see what happens with the T-Mobile thing how does that happen like how do they put that up early who made the mistake there well you gotta blame you know my team internally too and and uh and T-Mobile you know I don’t know what was that you know I was very very pissed off a few hours ago and uh I’m over it now I was gonna say Do you still get pissed off about that stuff or does it just like no no I still get pissed yeah I was very pissed off I’m just curious what what’s happening with Steve miocic there’s always this talk of him versus John and obviously John’s fighting Cyril where’s Steve Pearce yeah still still obviously very much in the mix and uh but he’s going through some stuff right now that he’s dealing with he the timing just didn’t work for him you mentioned Francis wants to go fight uh lower opponents are you expecting him to sign with another MMA organization or do you think he might try and go box Francis I have no clue I have no clue listen whatever he decides to do it’s been fun while he’s been here I wish him the best it’s all good I know you guys always think you can get these deals across the line but you were you particularly surprised that Francis just didn’t seem to want to stick around were you surprised as you were negotiating with him like man this guy just doesn’t seem to want to be here I don’t know you know what it happens uh he’s the second guy you know we couldn’t come to a deal with you know what I mean that now it’s him and Fedor so you know we we did everything we could to to get him uh to take the deal I think Hunter went to 350 dinners with him uh you know did what we could do and and it just didn’t work out everyone always talks about the Fedor offer on this Mystery Island or whatever who would have got the better deal Francis or Fedor did what who would have got the better deal from you Fedor or Francis Ah that’s funny that’s a good question um yeah it would probably have to be Francis I mean the deal that was being offered to Francis would have made him the highest paid guy uh in heavyweight history and when you think about Brock Lesnar a guy did a million buys every time he fought so big number big money you know right here where would you rank the the Francis John fight that didn’t happen where would you rank that in fights that we never got to see in the UFC up there with like the Habib Tony’s and everything yeah I I mean it would have been fun to see Fedor versus um Brock at the time that we tried to make it um you know and you know this is a fun flight too but so is Cyril gone so it wasn’t like we were like um you know we wanted to make the Fedor Brock fight but we ended up making this fight that was just you know the fight the fight that we have now is incredible Dana what was it that Francis wanted above and beyond I mean you offered him more than any other fighter would yeah it was like I said what I think he wanted is I I think that he’s you know this guy’s worked hard and he feels like he’s in a position right now to fight lesser competition for more money I think he doesn’t want to take the risk you’re going in against Jon Jones the the best of all time and at the end of the day there’s nothing wrong with that he can do that’s just not what we do here it’s not what we do here the best fight the best here you know there’s there’s plenty of places where you can go do that and that’s that’s where he’ll end up he’ll end up somewhere where somebody will you know throw some money at him and he’s going to fight fights that he that he thinks he can win would he have taken that deal if he didn’t have to fight Jon Jones was he picking I don’t know that’s a good question um was it was it a requirement for Jon Jones to fight for the title for his uh debut at heavyweight no this is what this is what John wanted you know John’s been talking about this forever so this wasn’t our thing this is a John thing I mean but Jones would have came in even uh at heavyweight John was willing to fight anybody he was willing to fight him so you’re asking me what do you only fight heavyweight for the title no he was willing to fight anybody he didn’t care he didn’t he literally didn’t care who it was on on the roster and not for the title he was willing to fight anybody and then it seemed like we thought this that John was going to come back in in December and fight in ghanu um did Jon Jones agree to fight and ganu for at that time when everybody thought that was 100 Jon Jones wanted to fight in Ghana I mean you guys are going to have plenty of opportunity to talk to John and John’s very confident that he would have ripped through Francis and gonyo that’s that’s how he feels that that was a easy fight for him have you had a peek at how John looks at that weight at the heavyweight no I haven’t seen him no just his faith in interviews one more right here yeah is there any update on the co-main event to that fight card because Al Jermaine and Henry sahuto seem to be doing matchmaking for each other and then Al Jermain said his bicep is her and now Henry the co-main event for this fight no for the the pay-per-view in March under John yeah no not not right now I don’t yeah I told you guys we heard Leon Edwards and Usman has finalized um um and then gaichi and um physio are the co-main event for that fight so Leon in London Leon Camaro is finalized for that one yes yes done all those fights are done all four of those fights are I mean both of those fights are done Dana yeah back here Fort John had uh took his time off he was kind of uh looking for a new contract as well and he was kind of going back and forth did he get into a a new contract or is he under the same country Jones signed a new a-fight deal mm-hmm um and then with Francis good question I forgot I forgot to tell you that uh he really wanted to box was that offered in his contract who did uh Francis and Ghana wanted to buy no nobody’s getting boxing in their contracts here no um and then uh are you guys going to New York in April uh probably um and then finally Umar nurmagomedov looked very good tonight with his knockout I mean is it just a matter of time before you guys put a rocket ship to his back and and kind of have him fight top five he actually wanted to come back and talk to me tonight after the fight we talked and he’s like I’m ready he’s going home for a week and then he’s coming back here and uh he said he’s ready for anything anything that we we bring to him he’s ready he’s ready for anything so I love that attitude and you know I’m excited about that kid thank you thank you hey Dana hey do you think he’s ready for March 4th he wants to fight on that card here in Vegas who does um yeah does he yeah you’re saying he does want to fight on that card that’s what he was saying yeah well he’s coming right back a week after you know he’s leaving for a week and coming back so and he told us he’s ready for anything yeah is everyone we’ll probably turn him around quick when guys want to turn around quick I love that it’s just about um it’s about finding the right opponent you know there’s a lot of fights that are already happening in that division but you have to think too that some will probably fall out because it happens so I I don’t know you know I I you know what I always say I don’t make fights after the fight but Tuesday we’ll start looking at it if the UFC was prepared to make kanganu the highest paid heavyweight in history to fight Jon Jones was a similar offer made to Cyril gan what’s did the offer get made to Cyril’s under contract yeah but it has he got a similar offer to fight Jon Jones has he got what a similar offer to fight Jon Jones no he has a deal Cyril gone has a deal Francis and gonya did not okay and um I love the fight I think it’s a great headline for Vegas but you said uh I can’t remember it was last year of the year before with regard to Jon Jones that Las Vegas isn’t good for him and uh because of like previous misdemeanors do you think it would be good for him on March the 4th oh yeah and what do I think about it I still think the same thing yeah I agree that it’s not good hey Daniel do you write do you write over yeah I guess looking back on the whole for instance situation do you have any one regret or do you feel like it’s just kind of always how it was going to end regardless of any kind of no I didn’t think this is how it was going to end I thought we’d eventually come to a deal with them but we didn’t you know I don’t have any regrets um Hunter might but I don’t um this week is slap I guess how are you feeling for four days out obviously the circumstances have changed a little bit with the incident that happened how are you feeling about the launch of this thing you said that you’ve been planning for years yeah no I’m feeling good I mean I I haven’t really thought about but we’ll really start hitting it hard tomorrow um but yeah I feel good I think I think that uh it’s insanely entertaining and I think people are going to like it has has your involvement or your presence within the show itself has that changed at all after what happened everything’s the same everything’s the same yeah okay we pushed it back a week because I was supposed to come back and do like this whole media tour which obviously wasn’t going to happen when I got back so that was the reason for the delay in the media tour yeah okay was it ever in Jeopardy Jeopardy or how close was it in Jeopardy to not airing what do you mean just not airing completely like the TBS just didn’t want to put it on anymore was that ever a possibility no and then since you spoke on Wednesday you know you said don’t defend me and I deserve anything that people say I think the narrative now has changed over the last few days that Dana White has apologized now but the main criticism is that he didn’t face any professional repercussions and you did speak on that on Wednesday but now I want to ask you since you’ve had a few days now and that’s sort of been the big big takeaway that what message does that send about domestic violence that a president of a company would would get away and you’re talking about repercussions in your personal life but people are talking about repercussions in a professional life is there any any thoughts that you have or the only thing that matters is my personal life what else is there well I think the the people who are who are one of the narrative say that yeah there has to be there should be some professional consequences okay so what should it be no one seems to really have an opinion on that they just I hear you so my final question is had Endeavor came to you and said hey we do think that you should walk that we need you to step away for 30 days 45 days six months whatever it was what would your reaction have been to that head Endeavor ask that I told you I was going to leave in 2016 with the sale could have sat out during coveted you know what what should my punishment be yeah I guess I guess and you say there’s going to be repercussions in your personal life but none in your professional life but what matters other than my personal life nothing nothing matters except for my personal life this is great love doing it don’t have to do it thank you yeah let’s go one last one what’s happening with hamzat jamai if he says that he’s been offered four fights in different countries and everything do we have a plan for Hamza what’s the question what’s happening with Hamza um yeah I don’t know we’re working on him we’re trying to figure him out right now there’s there’s nothing to report on him right now we got we got to figure that out good thank you guys