UFC 82: Highlights from Post-Fight Press Conference; Silva receives $120,000 in bonuses; UFC does $2.2 million at the gate; and more!
March 2, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Filed under TUF 9
I was not able to attend UFC 82 live, however, thanks to “Mr. Sunshine” Steve Cofield, who recorded the audio, I was able to listen to the post-fight press conference online. I highly recommend you go to Cofield’s blog and listen to all the post-fight audio he accumulated while doing his post-show wrap on ESPN 920 in Las Vegas.
Here are the notable comments from the post-fight press conference:
- The official attendance for the event was 16,431 for a live gate of $2.2 million. UFC President Dana White said he loves having fights in Columbus.
- White awarded $120,000 in bonuses to unified middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Silva and former PRIDE welterweight champion Dan Henderson received the bonus for “Fight of the Night” and then Silva also received the award for “Submission of the Night.” The bonus money Silva received is in addition to his guarantee and his win bonus. White awarded the $60,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus to Chris Leben for his first round TKO over Alessio Sakara.
- Henderson was not at the post-fight press conference. White indicated that he felt the main event “delivered.” In regards to Henderson, White later added that he feels he belongs at 185 pounds.
- White revealed that the UFC officially offered UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture a fight with UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira but that Couture has yet to respond. A reported pointed out that they already offered Couture the fight but White said that they hadn’t offered it to him since Nogueira won the interim title. Again, White said he feels Couture should honor his contract and fight Nogueira because he believes he owes Nogueira the opportunity to fight him because Tim Sylvia gave Couture the same opportunity a year ago.
- A big theme during the press conference was White’s stumping for Silva to be recognized by pundits as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He stated at one point that anyone who believes otherwise is “out of their mind.” Later in the press conference he went after the Internet media in regards to Silva, referring to them as “knucklehead websites.” Later on he said that he feels that the reason more sites don’t recognize Silva as the pound-for-pound number and rank Fedor in that spot is out of their hatred for him. He said, “You’re a clown if you rank Fedor number one.” He did not name a website in particular.
While the comment was directed at any of the sites I am involved with, I’d like to entertain the comment. While I don’t take what White says personally, I simply don’t agree that Silva is the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I have him number two, behind Georges St. Pierre. Silva is the better striker, has better submissions off his back, and is more consistent from fight-to-fight. However, St. Pierre’s striking is world class, his submissions from the top are better, and he’s the far better wrestler. Physically, I can find no weakness in GSP’s game. I do feel Silva still has a few, minor flaws to work out.
Also, I’d like to go on the record and state that I don’t hate Dana. In fact, I like the guy in many respects. While he will no longer grant me interviews because of my affiliation with ProElite.com, he was a true gentleman in all of my dealings with him prior. I have a lot of respect for what he’s done for this sport and thing he does a lot of things right. However, I do not feel he’s perfect and I’m not afraid to say when I think he’s wrong. My ranking of GSP over Silva is based on my sincere opinion and not personal politics. Again, I’m not taking White’s comments personally, I just felt some people might be interested in my comments. Besides, I don’t have Fedor ranked number one, so in his eyes I must not be a clown? Okay, I wouldn’t bet on that.
Silva also has an impressive win over Henderson while GSP has an impressive win over Penn
I beg to differ. Silva has an impressive win over Henderson while GSP has a NOT so impressive win over Penn. Some people would claim that Penn actually won. The punishment Penn dealt was far more than GSP’s controlling wrestling. Under Pride’s judging criteria, Penn would’ve won outright.
Re: Zane
Childish all-caps response aside…
I *did* read what you wrote and while it seems like you read what I wrote, it doesn’t sound like you understood it.
Again, to reiterate, I AGREE that Silva is the #1 P4P fighter *over* GSP and not once did you compare GSP’s consistency to Silva’s. You only made the blanket statement that GSP was inconsistent.
If you’re going to use a loss GSP suffered almost 4 years ago as a sign of “inconsistency,” why not do the same for Silva’s loss to Takase?
I think the whole P4P argument is a little overrated. I mean, is a 14 yr old pitcher in Little League who can’t be hit the best P4P pitcher in the world? You have to compare apples to apples in sports, and MMA is no different. My son dominates the other judokas in his class, but I am pretty sure he is not the best P4P in the world
I think we’re just talking about professional (elite level) athletes, ctownhood.
Sergio, Serra was 4 years ago? Gimme a break.
I can not believe that you guys would even put GSP in top ten P4P fighters. Are you judging him for successful fights or his potential? His victory over Hughes was predictable; Hughes is over the hill and overrated. GSP did not beat Penn. GSP victory over Shrek I mean Sherk was predictable as well. Who really thinks GSP would beat Silva? You have to be kidding me
A fight between Silva and GSP would not be a dream fight in MMA, because there’s an obvious winner and that’s Silva.
WOW–I cant help but to comment even before I continue reading the rest of these comments… I personally have to agree that GSP ranks slightly above Anderson in P4P ranking. I ENTIRELY agree with Sam on this one. You guys completely miss his point that GSP PHYSICALLY (not mentally) has no gaps in his game. Mentally, Silva has an advantage on GSP he. GSP’s only real apparent weakness is him psyching himself before a fight. He psyched himself out before his first fight with Hughes (couldn’t even look him in the eyes in the stare-down), came back focused and conquered. He underestimated Serra the first time and I dont think many will disagree a focused GSP will completely steamroll Serra. The “glass-chin” comment was ridiculous, did you seriously watched the GSP vs. Serra fight?
Lets not forget how stacked the WW devision is as compared to MW… And though I do agree Hendo is something serious, both of Hendo’s appearances thus far in the UFC have been lack luster. He didn’t look all that great against Rampage, and I was extremely disappointed in his defense of the rear naked choke by Silva. Both hands were free–the choke first landed on his chin, he didn’t make ANY attempt to disrupt it… I agree that Hendo was definitely the person that even I expected to take advantage of Silva’s lacking take-down defense (as did Lutter), but lets face it, he choked (no pun intended). I just can’t agree that this victory provides the cement. Unless Serra is able to upset GSP this time around, he will still remain in the #1 spot.
…and I think a fight between GSP and Silva would be ridiculous. There would likely be a significant strength and size difference.
“Sergio, Serra was 4 years ago? Gimme a break.”
I’m referencing his first fight with Hughes, which you’re using as basis for your inconsistency argument.
Maybe the answer to the question about best P4P is who could move up and fight competitively. Could GSP fight competitively at 185? Doubt he could take Franklin, and Silva’s beaten him twice. Silva’s already proven he can fight up, because he just beat Henderson, who fought competitively at 205 with Rampage. Gotta go with Silva on this one.