UFC 118 Postfight Press Conference Notes

Dana White:
– It was 3 million dollar gate and the attendance was 15,575.
– Joe Lauzon won the submission of the night.
– Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis was fight of the night.
– All three guys earned $60,000 bonuses.
– They hired Mark Fischer as the executive vice president of UFC Asia.

Mark Fischer:
– Helped the NBA expand in China. (I think someone named Yao Ming also helped out with that.)
– Thinks the sports that strived for excellence are the sports that exceeded in Asia.
– Is looking at Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

White:
– Not after boxing and not trying to attack boxing. He was nervous. Toney lasted longer than he thought he would. James Toney picked a fight and he got one.
– Toney is a boxer and that’s what he does. It’s probably his last UFC fight.
– He thought James took it seriously, but he’s not the most fit boxer in the world.

Joe Lauzon:
– He sold 600 tickets and he had a lot of people in the building rooting for him.

White:
– Thought that the Marcus Davis stoppage was late and he didn’t like it.

Randy Couture:
– The fight played out exactly like he thought. Didn’t want to try to stand up with James. Has been working on the low shot all camp and had to pull it out from his college days.

Gray Maynard:
– Frankie did a great job and he’s the champ. But he wants the belt. Frankie’s changed in the 3 years since they fought.

Nate Diaz:
– Wants a fight with a top three contender in the lightweight or welterweight division.
– Would fight Gray before Gray gets his shot because he didn’t think he did much against him.

White:
– Gray gets the next shot and they don’t want to skip him again. But Diaz looked great at 170.
– Edgar absolutely dominated BJ Penn in every facet.

Couture:
– He’ll take his next fight as it comes. He takes them one at a time.

Maynard:
– Didn’t want to chase Florian and made Florian chase him. The gameplan was to take Florian down.
– It’s up to Dana White to put together his fight with Edgar.

White:
– Edgar might not make it to the press conference because he’s having issues with the commission.

Lauzon:
– Didn’t think the fight would be so easy. Stunned him with an elbow and it was “blood in the water”.

Maynard:
– If Couture gets a black belt for submitting Randy Couture, he deserves one too.

Couture:
– He worked on the arm triangle with Lesnar.
– He would respectfully decline an offer to fight Toney in a boxing match. It’d be as one sided as it was tonight.
– He couldn’t afford to not take him seriously.

White:
– Toney was supposed to be at the press conference, but thought it took too long and left.

Couture:
– Toney told him, “Good job.” At least, he thinks that’s what he said.

White:
– Florian chokes in the big fights.

Frankie Edgar:
– He was delayed trying to pee for the piss test.

White:
– The fight between Edgar and Maynard will be just fine and they can market it.

Edgar:
– Thinks the win will get some of the media off his back.
– Felt a sense of urgency when BJ took him down, but he trusted his corner, and kept his composure.

White:
– He was static, overwhelmed, and honored at the coverage of the show.

Edgar:
– Thought he broke BJ down a bit, but BJ is dangerous. He didn’t want to let up at all.
– He wanted to win decisively so there were no questions. No one can say anything now. It went his way.
– Winning the first fight with BJ gave him the confidence to do it this second time around.
– Maynard deserves his shot and he wants to avenge his loss.

White:
– He’s not sure where BJ goes. He’ll figure it out.
– He’s not sure what happened to BJ and he’s not sure why he’s not here. Maybe he’s upset, or maybe he had to go to the hospital.

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