Following Season 7, Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series, UFC President Dana White and contract winners field questions …
Dana another great night of fights what did you see in terms of talent tonight so let’s start with Igor um Igor’s 20 years old and you know how I feel about people when they’re when they’re really young uh coming into the UFC it’s not easy to come into the UFC at such a young age what makes this guy different makes this guy uh unique he’s been his first pro fight when he was 15 years old so he’s already been fighting for five years um he’s got a hundred percent finish rate he’s got four Knockouts and four Subs he’s the current jungle fight champion he’s he’s a different animal he’s different than anything I’ve ever seen young so what I’m interested in let’s see if he can be a UFC champion get over here kid you’re gorgeous Silva welcome to the UFC [Music] [Applause] all right all right there’s another one so I just went from a 20 year old to a 32 year old you know you know I always talk about 32 year old contenders uh you know this kid came out absolutely dominated he’s 15-1 so when I talk about guys that are too young or guys that are too old um what I like about this guy is I can throw this guy right in the mix today he you know he’s got he’s got a ton of experience um 16 fights here’s the other thing that I love about him he’s got 16 fights he’s got 13 finishes this guy doesn’t mess around this guy comes in to finish you and what makes him even more interesting is he has been in multiple five round fights before so he’s a guy that can come right in and fight anybody at any time so I look forward to seeing how he does Welcome to the UFC get on over here [Applause] [Music] all right here’s an interesting one I I I don’t know if this is a fact but I believe this to be true that this was the first ever draw in the contender Series history so um let me start with the leader toleda is tough sixth time or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion she came in she fought her heart out um Stephanie Stephanie is on the young side like I always talk about you know people being too old people being too young might need more experience I I just there’s something weird when Stephanie stepped in to the Octagon I have this thing that I always talk about when I see people that I think are special she had that it Factor she has that that thing about her and um when you think about what Toledo brought to the table and being a six-time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion she had her on the ground most of the time and she didn’t finish her Stephanie stayed out of her submissions and Stephanie came forward the whole time she tried to finish the fight she tried to knock her out um and and some of the when I look at the which by the way let’s get let’s talk about this the third round that’s what a 10-8 round looks like okay Saturday was not a 10-8 round that’s a 10-8 all right and uh when you look at round three significant strikes 54-9 I think Stephanie is special and I think this fight actually made Stephanie better and I’m going to give Stephanie a shot in the UFC and I want to see what she can do Stephanie get over here Stephanie Luciano welcome to the UFC [Applause] [Music] all right Daniel Allen he’s 5-0 came in as a two to one Underdog fought hard then Russell banged it out problem is I don’t think you’re ready for the UFC yet you’re 5-0 now you need more experience time is not on your side you’re 31 years old I know you don’t want to hear any babbling bulls for me the only thing you want to hear from me right now is yes but let me tell you this me and Cormier spent some time together this weekend he was telling me his first fight was when he was 30 years old he fought his first fight at 30 when he got into the end of MMA and he became one of the greatest of all time I think what you need to do keep grinding you proved everybody wrong tonight you were two to one dog the oddsmakers were wrong everybody who bet against you was wrong get out there get as many fights as you can and I truly believe we’re going to see you again someday all right just not tonight my brother all right Shamil 11-0 obviously a very interesting heavyweight he’s another guy um he’s undefeated 11-0 he’s another guy that we can throw right into the heavyweight division big fun fights I think this guy’s ready to go congratulations big guy get over here welcome to the UFC congratulations Dana half of this car tonight was made up out of Brazilian Fighters and we talk all the time about Emerging Markets but you know for so long now Brazil has just been a huge uh place where we find UFC Talent how important has that been to this show and to the health of the UFC overall yeah I mean since the beginning of MMA these guys have been pumping out Talent from Brazil and uh you’re seeing a lot of it on this season of the contender not just tonight but on this season of the contender and uh if you look at what’s happened over the last several years on this show we’re going to find another world champion from Brazil out of this out of this uh competition a lot of exciting stuff thank you so much Dana Igor welcome to the UFC just 20 years old but I know that this has been a dream a long time coming challenge I’ve trained so hard I’ve trained so hard for this to happen to actually have this dream come true uh obviously very happy um and I I I know what I’m bringing to say well I know we’re coming in with uh I I want to make history in this event and here I am in the biggest event in the world that I Want To Make History here I think that smile says it all welcome to the UFC congratulations kind of congratulations and welcome to the UFC and what a huge night not just for you but for your entire team and your coaches as well foreign [Music] with that dream and this is proof that with hard work a lot of perseverance um you’re gonna make it happen sounds like Dana is ready to put you to work pretty soon are you excited to get in there in the near future yes hey um I I’m there obviously we have card in Brazil in Sao Paulo I am not from Sao Paulo but I train Sao Paulo I have a crowd that would follow me there uh fourth of November in Sao Paulo and of course the main card the guy’s gonna put on a show is my friends so I’m ready to go and then put me in there I’m gonna put on the show and after that just uh go up a little bit congratulations hope to see you on that Sao Paulo card go enjoy your contract Stephanie congratulations welcome to the UFC Dana White stood here and said that he saw something special in in you how does that make you feel parabens [Music] this is the dream of a little girl who’s 13 years old that’s now uh it’s it’s coming true so uh you’re you’re way for me you’re gonna see me and you’re gonna see me just going at it with bangers all the time what do you feel like you can bring to the straw white division in the ufcs I’ve said um it is uh I’m a young athlete and someone’s eager I I bring I I I I know I’m sure I can bring a lot to this division uh a young athlete that’s coming at it that’s that’s what I’m bringing you watch out strong weights hondinia on her way congratulations go enjoy that contract welcome to the UFC Shamil gazeve I think you put those heavy weights on notice tonight what’s it feel like to call yourself a UFC fighter foreign [Music] thank you very much of course I’m happy and as I said before it was not my goal my goal is to win a title that day you will seem happy will you be happy when you were the first Champion representing Bahrain in the UFC um [Music] I will be happy when I will become UC champion and I will be even more happy that I will be first champion from Bahrain congratulations welcome to the UFC