Like him or not, UFC President Dana White is never afraid to give his opinion on any topic if asked. He’s the face of mixed martial arts in America, and his thoughts on any particular topic carry a lot of weight with the general public. White was on The MMA Hour on Monday and gave his thoughts on Rampage Jackson, Josh Koscheck, Jake Shields, and the UFC in Canada.
Often times, a fighter may not be 100 percent focused in a return to competition after a layoff in pursuit of Hollywood dreams, but UFC president Dana White says Quinton “Rampage” Jackson should be an exception to the rule due to the amount of animosity he holds towards opponent Rashad Evans.
“The one saving grace for Rampage in this whole thing is how much he hates Rashad Evans,” White said Monday on The MMA Hour. “The motivation for him to train and how angry he is and fired up he is for this fight. I think the fact that he’s fighting Rashad is probably the best thing in the world for him.”
White touched on many other subjects, below.
On Tuesday’s release of the new UFC Undisputed 2010 video game: “It’s actually a lot different. I’m actually blown away by how much the game has changed in just a year, how much they’ve upgraded it in just a year. People who liked it last year are going to love this new game.”
On Josh Koscheck: “It’s not like me and Koscheck are buddies. Don’t think that Koscheck came out of the Ultimate Fighter and we’re buddies and I’m looking out for Koscheck. I think Koscheck is as much of a dick as anyone else does. We have no beef. It’s — he’s not a team player. His personality — you’re never going get along with Koscheck and hang out and be good buddies with him. Just can’t. He’s not that type of guy. It’s not a bad thing. It’s who he decides to be. It doesn’t mean I can’t do business with him. But I’ll tell you this, I respect Koscheck as a fighter. I think that he’s getting better and better every time he fights. He goes out there and goes after it.”
On if Jackson needs to be cleared by UFC for his upcoming WWE Raw appearance: “Stuff he does on the side, If he was going to professionally wrestle on the WWE, then he’d have to talk to me, but if he’s making an appearance, absolutely not.”
On Tuesday’s major announcement in Canada: “The reason that we’re holding the press conference up there is we’re basically going to show everybody how committed we are to Canada and how much Canada means to us.”
On UFC Primetime: “I like the real time of it, how real time it is and and you actually get the look and try to figure out their head And that’s why I like so much about the weigh-ins. At the weigh-ins you get to see what shape your guy is in. You find out if he makes weight easy. How does he look? How does the stare down look? I love all that stuff. The other thing I love about Primetime is that we have so many different guys and so many different characters that you can see. How many times can you watch Floyd [Mayweather] throw money around? it’s the same thing every time. Boxing doesn’t have enough depth.”
On Koscheck deserving a title shot: “To say that Koscheck doesn’t deserve a shot is crazy. Koscheck’s been out there beating guys left and right. A lot of people are judging him on the knee. It’s not like me and Koscheck are best buddies, but who are we to say that Koscheck didn’t get hit with that knee. We’re not in there fighting.”
On signing Jake Shields: “I don’t know what the deal is with his contract, but when he contract is up, I can guarantee you that he and I will be on the phone.”
