Well, Dana, third time I think we've been to Salt Lake since you signed this deal. We had the BMF fight. We had the Usman-Leon knockout, I guess. What are you expecting from this stacked card here in Salt Lake on Saturday?
I mean, it's a great card from the first prelim to the main event. So, you know, that's what I expect. I expect an awesome night. I expect like, you know, some of these other cards that we've just come off of, you know, nights like that when you come in and you haven't — I think we haven't been here in a couple of years — but you come back into the market with live fights, we should have a fun night.
When we cover fights here, we make a note of it seems like the fans show up for the first fight, specifically in this city, right? You have long lines like hours before the first kickoff, right? So, have you noticed that? And is that one of the big reasons that you keep coming back to Salt Lake?
Well, yeah, definitely. But that happens a lot everywhere we go. I mean, you know, it was just like that. Serbia was like that. You know, the fans are very educated. And what I always talk about when I talk about boxing now too is that a lot of times — I'll give you an example tonight — that, you know, the Bobby Green fight. I mean, people are excited about one of the far cards in the middle, you know, as much as they are for the co-main or main events.
Well, you brought him up. King Green has kind of found this new fandom with streaming, something that you said you saw this was coming, right? Like the streaming world. Do you think Bobby has found like new life amongst MMA fans? Because I feel like he's been more popular than ever.
Yeah. And I think part of that is his fighting style. You know, we like guys who fight like that and he is, you know, I can't remember if you said it or I said it, but you know, when you think about a BMF, he's definitely one of those guys and fans love those kind of people.
Did you expect a bit of the back and forth from the main event? Natalia and Wang Kong had a little contentious face-off yesterday. Did you see that? And what do you make of the — not bad blood, but they seem to be hyper serious with each other?
No, I didn't. But, you know, at the end of the day, this fight is for what everybody dreams of someday. These two are fighting for that on Saturday night. And, you know, to win this belt, you got Natalia who's on like a total of 14-fight win streak right now. And, you know, Wang has beat — Wang beat Valentina Shevchenko, and not in MMA, but beat her. She's beat Grasso, Namajunas, you know. So, it's a damn good fight between two badass women for, you know, for the world title. So, I'm assuming it's going to get nasty tomorrow at the face-offs and then hopefully it's a great fight.
I know you touched upon it a bit at the press conference, but what do you think you have with Payton Talbott? Because like I said, he seems to bring a certain fan that only watches him fight. They won't turn in for any other fight besides him.
Yeah, that's interesting. I don't know. You know what's cool is that in this sport, and it's what Lorenzo and I really loved about this when we first got into MMA, is that every one of these fighters are unique in their own ways and have their own appeal in some way, shape, or form. It's like when people always ask me, 'Who's the next Conor McGregor?' There isn't another Conor McGregor. There never will be. You know, he's unique in many ways, but it's what makes the sport so fun.
And a couple unrelated to this fight. I know at Contender Series you said Hani Barcelos was up and walking around. Did you ever get an actual diagnosis of what happened in the cage?
Yeah, of course I did. And it was serious and he pulled out of it, thank God. But I can't talk about his medical, you know, you guys will have to ask him about that or see if you can set up an interview with him. But I talked about this yesterday or whenever — we talked about it on Tuesday. It's the only thing I care about is like when we produce these shows, from this to Slap to boxing and jiu-jitsu, is that all the proper medical testing is done before we have the proper — you know, we had six doctors and three ambulances at that fight and we didn't send him to Valley Hospital. But we sent him to the trauma center immediately. I mean, that's the way you have to run a combat sports organization to try to make sure that nobody gets hurt.
Is it — I know you can't say the diagnosis, but is that something that'll affect his next fight? Like, do you think he should keep fighting?
I don't want to make that call until he has more evaluations. But I got to tell you, his family was incredible through the whole thing. His dad, his — you know, it was — I hate that. It's horrible to see, you know, somebody go through that. But, you know, I'm so thrilled with my team. Hunter jumped in his car and drove behind the ambulance to UMC and, you know, the team absolutely killed it. So, yeah.
And then just last one for me on the presser yesterday in London. And I know you said you didn't see it, but Turki, when he was announcing everything, he said, 'My brother Dana White, your name got a little of a frosty reception from the boxing fans.' Eddie Hearn saying that he needs to be diplomatic because in his words, he needs to be humble in victory. This is what Eddie Hearn is saying because he said, 'Oh, you knew where the venue was. You knew where the day was.' And neither of those are happening. So, was I wrong?
I don't personally. Was I lying? Was I wrong? Am I not the promoter? Am I not producing the entire event? The answer is yes. And I think that's — I think the difference between me and Eddie is Eddie is trying to win some kind of PR battle or whatever. Eddie likes to see himself on interviews. He likes to talk a lot. And talking a lot will get you in a lot of trouble. Let's just put it — I'll put it to you this way. Like I said, judge me at the end of the year. Let's see how this whole thing looks in a couple of years. The writing is on the wall.
Whatever little game he thinks he won, he's out of his mind. He's incredibly delusional.
He knows what's going on.
I don't know what's going on.
And last one for me. Have you spoken to AJ about any of this situation at all? Because he did an interview and he said, 'I stand with Eddie. I've been with him since the beginning. If he pulls the plug, I'm with Eddie.' Have you talked to AJ?
And I respect that. No. No, I haven't talked to AJ. I don't expect to be talking to AJ or any of that stuff. Eddie is his guy and he's standing by Eddie and I respect that. Yeah. And again, I said at the press conference the other day, you see me out there trying to sign Anthony Joshua or take him away and you just asked, 'Have I talked to him?' I haven't talked to him. It's obviously very clear that he is very loyal to Eddie. And at one point I had asked — I said I hope Anthony Joshua owns some stock in Matchroom and then they came out and said he does. So it's all good.
Last two questions about the last two numbered events of the year. UFC 234 in New York. Obviously Alex Pereira has been claiming his rematch with Ciryl Gane. Why was Jiri Prochazka the logical choice for you guys?
Why Alex Pereira — he's been claiming the rematch against Gane in New York. Why was Jiri Prochazka the right choice, the logical choice to fight Ciryl Gane?
Is that what we announced?
Why? Why was he — why was the logical choice above Alex Pereira?
Who do you think should have been the choice?
I'm asking — you're asking me the question though. Where does that question come from? What do you think we should have done?
I don't know. Maybe Alex Pereira because of the star power he has, he could have got a rematch.
Because he could have got the rematch because of what?
We make fights based on star power.
I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. We make fights based on who is the best in the world. Who deserves to be there and he's coming off a loss right now against Gane. This is the fight to make. If I do the rematch, we all just saw the fight and it wasn't like, 'Holy, that was a knockdown and the fans are demanding a rematch,' you know. So yeah, I'm happy with that.
Okay. And last one, obviously Sean Strickland confirmed on social media he's going to fight Nassourdine Imavov, but he said no one cares about Nassourdine, but actually the fans say that there is a story between the two of them. What interest do you see in this?
The fans say there's a story between who?
Between Nassourdine Imavov and Sean Strickland because they already fought each other and Sean Strickland has said bad words about Imavov so they hate each other.
