UFC 116 – Post-fight Press Conference

Here’s the recap from the post-fight presser:

Dana White:

Brock is getting stitched up and will be at the presser. Carwin is going to the hospital.

They gave out $75,000 bonuses.

– Gerald Harris won for best knockout.
– Brock Lesnar won for best submission. (Considering Brock is going to make over a million dollars, it could’ve went to Lytle.)
– Chris Leben/Yoshirio Akiyama & Stephan Bonnar and Krzystof Soszynski both won for fight of the night.

Dana says it was one of his best nights ever in his UFC career. Every fight on the card lived up to the billing.

He thanks everyone who fought and bows down to them.

Dana says that he doesn’t know Herb Dean, but thinks he’s the greatest ref and wishes he was in every fight, but said Josh Rosenthal did a great job tonight.

Chris Leben:

He didn’t watch Bonnar fight because he would’ve been too pumped up watching him fight and had to focus on his own fight.

Stephan Bonnar:

Bonnar said that he was worried that the fight was going to get stopped again because he had more cuts in this fight than the first one.

He said when he bleeds, it brings out the best of him.

Leben:

Leben says he usually remembers his fights like slow motion, but he doesn’t remember a lot of this one. He thought it was the second round when he won. He’s overwhelmed with his recent success, getting bonused in the last two weeks.

Dana:

He said he was blown away from the show and didn’t even hear the post-fight comments by Brock. He said he needed a defibrillator.

Leben:

Couldn’t really train for Akiyama and that he couldn’t prepare for the judo throws. He says he fights to entertain and he wants people to know that he comes to fight.

Dana:

Cain Velasquez is the next fight for Brock Lesnar.

Leben:

He didn’t think he was going to win the decision because the UFC scoring weighs heavily on takedowns, but thought he was working hard from the bottom. Thought Akiyama was up on him.

After he had the arm bar, he knew he could get the triangle because Akiyama was going to let him set it up. His corner wanted him to get up, but he knew he had it.

Dana:

He says that Wanderlei is out for a bit. He thinks Leben can rest a bit, but he does want him to get back in there. He’s happy for Leben.

Chris Lytle:

He wants to fight people who come to fight, rather than to win points. He’s here to entertain.

Dana:

Australia makes a lot of sense to go back to and have George Sotiropoulous fight there.

Lytle:

Went for a gogoplata, but it just didn’t quite work. Using it in the octagon is the best way to pull off new moves.

Brock Lesnar:

He called Carwin’s left hook “Hurricane Katrina”. He thanks the referee for letting him go on. He wasn’t hurt. He felt Shane get tired. Saved energy by taking his shots. Shane’s a beast. He lost the first round, but he still had four rounds left.

Brock says his jiu-jitsu coach helped him with the arm triangle. Called his trainers “loyal”.

Leben:

He laid in bed last night and cried because he wanted to win so badly.

Lesnar:

They trained for the submission to be open. He said the arm triangle is similar to a head lock. Says as long as the fans are paying attention, that’s all that matters.

Since November when he got sick, until now, it feels like it’s been 10 years. He says it’s a miracle to come back what he came back from. “Words just cannot describe it.”

George Sotiropoulous:

He’s happy that he won. Pellegrino had to come out hard in the third. He’s relieved that he won.

Lesnar:

Carwin outboxed him and got him. He just didn’t want it to end that way. He wasn’t going home without his belt. He’s a wrestler. He’s trying to evolve. He has a lot of room to grow.

Bonnar:

Krzystof hit him so hard that he couldn’t focus for 45 seconds. He says it’s better than sex.

Dana:

Shane was fatigued and upset and started hyperventilating. Doesn’t think it’s serious.

When Brock came in, he wanted to fight in the UFC because fighting in the other organization sucked.

Lenar:

Pretty remarkable that his WWE friends came to represent. Without the WWE, Dana wouldn’t have given him a second look. He said they were going to make an example of him by giving him all hard fights.

Dana:

Dana said, “No, we’re going to make an example of James Toney.” James Toney is no joke. He’s a real fighter. He’s going to try to knock out Randy Couture. He said he got sucked into a “freak show”.

Lesnar:

“You got sucked in twice. You got me first.”

Dana:

Randy Couture wanted the fight with Toney and you don’t say no to Randy Couture.

Lesnar:

Without the WWE, he wouldn’t have had the visibility to sucker Dana into his first fight.

Dana:

The Rock went crazy when Brock won. It was like one of their own crossed over and made it.

Lesnar:

Paul Heyman was one of the first guys to see his talent. Paul put a bug in Vince’s ear. He almost said Dana’s ear and smiled like a child.

He and Paul are writing a book together. They’ve been spending a lot of time together.

Bill Goldberg came over last night and they watched their match at WrestleMania XX and laughed.

He said he’s going to go home watch DirecTV, drink some Bud Light, and ride his Harley Davidson as a nod to dissing the sponsors last time.

He wants to shoot a white tailed deer, spend time with his family, and farm. Rena is pregnant.

He had nothing to lose. He threw it all on the table. He’s been in bad spots in training and says the hardest part is the training. He doesn’t know if it’s better than sex, but it’s great.

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