UFC 253 Post-Fight Press Conference Transcript

Jan Blachowicz: (00:00)
Hello.

Speaker 1: (00:11)
Jan, congratulations.

Hello.

Speaker 1: (00:12)
Hello. Congratulations, man. You’ve been working towards this moment for a long time, and I know it’s still probably setting in a little bit, but how are you feeling up there?

It was a long journey for me, but finally on the top. Amazing feeling. There is no words to describe this, how I feel right now. My mind is in different place right now, somewhere in the space. I don’t know.

Speaker 1: (00:35)
As far as his performance tonight and what you saw on the other side, did he do anything to surprise you, or did everything play out the way you thought it would?

I think that he going to put more pressure on me, but I put pressure on him and that was good idea, except that he was completely as what we expect. And like I tell you before, we have a lot of good sparring partners in our gym, [inaudible 00:01:02] boxer guys so I was ready for the style.

Speaker 1: (01:05)
Yeah. You hurt him to the body pretty early, man, all that nasty mark on his ribs. When you saw that, does that change your mindset? I mean, does that become like a target all of a sudden? Does that change your game plan a little bit?

My left leg is always really good and really hot. This is something when I even don’t want to kick, it’s going automatically. And when I kick first time or second time, I see that he’s slowing down a little bit so I knew that he feel it. But in second round when I see that I broke his nose, I knew that that finish will be really, really soon.

Speaker 1: (01:36)
Yeah. And when you dropped him, it was kind of a stagger before he fell down. I mean, did you know right away, this is it, now it’s going to be over?

Yeah. When he was on the ground, I knew that few more punches and it will be over. He will not get up anymore.

Speaker 1: (01:49)
Now here’s the interesting thing. I know you guys were sick of talking about Jon Jones and the first thing you do is go talk about Jon Jones.

Right now we can talk about him because I don’t want to talk before fight because my opponent was Dominick. Now I don’t have opponent. So Jon Jones, why not? But nobody knows what he doing right now I think. So we will see, but yeah. Why not? He promised me this fight after Albuquerque and after when I knock out Corey Anderson.

Speaker 1: (02:16)
I like it. Last thing from me. If it’s not Jon Jones, like you said, we don’t know. Maybe he goes to heavyweight. Do you see another name that makes the most sense for your first defense?

Maybe Thiago, Thiago Santos. If he win his fight against Teixeira, that would be really good.

Speaker 1: (02:31)
If for some reason that fight doesn’t get rescheduled, would you take him right away? If they don’t fight because they’ve had to cancel it a couple of times.

Now I want to celebrate a little bit, rest. So first celebrating. Soon I’m going to be a father, so I like to focus on that. I want to focus on that now that I only have two. And after that, we can talk about the next opponent and the first defense. But now I’m just want to celebrate celebrate. I have to come back to Poland, see my parents, hug my mom, drink beer with my father because I don’t see them I don’t know how many time. I don’t know how long I was in my hometown and don’t see them so I want to meet my family. And then we can talk about next fight.

Speaker 2: (03:15)
Jan, you are 67 right now and it’s 67 fights.

67? Whoa. Thank you.

Speaker 2: (03:25)
But this is what I’m going to. Year after year, you are getting better, better, better. So on what date you’ll find a pinnacle of your career will be?

I’m like wine.

Speaker 2: (03:36)
67.

67. No, no, I just knew my body better. I knew myself better. I’m just smarter right now. I know how to train smarter. My experience is much better and I just believe in myself. I back to roots to my old coach and that’s what works really good on me. And this is the best proof on that.

Speaker 3: (04:02)
Hi, Jan. It seemed like he was staying away from you because he respected your power. And then towards the end of the fight, he started feeling a bit more comfortable and moving around freely and then he got hit. Did you feel that? Could you see him getting more comfortable?

Yeah, I see that he tried to be more flexible and stuff like this, but he started open himself. So I see a couple of holes in his game and I use it. But like I say, I think that he going to be … Like I said before, that he going to put a little bit pressure on me, but I put pressure on him and that was really good idea.

Speaker 3: (04:37)
Did you guys exchange any words in the cage after the fight?

I just say to him that he cannot give up and just rest and back to octagon. And that’s it. I wish best in future.

Speaker 3: (04:50)
And lastly for me, did you feel it when you broke his nose?

I don’t feel it. I see it.

Speaker 3: (04:57)
Okay.

Yeah. I don’t feel it. But when he goes, I see that his nose is here.

Jamal: (05:02)
Jan, congratulations on the victory. Since you lost to Thiago Santos, you’ve been on a four fight winning streak. What’s changed?

Thiago just makes me better fighter. He just showed me that I’ll have to keep my hands higher and that’s it. And like tell you, I’m always believing in myself. I just have to … I find what goes wrong in the fight and that’s it.

Jamal: (05:28)
And you’ve trained, sparred with him. What confidence level do you have if he is your next opponent without giving away what happened inside the gym?

Yeah. We trained together after our fights, after our fight. So if I’m going to have first take the belt, defend with him, so I will not have nice new plan for him this time. If the fight will go on, this time where the I’m going to be the winner.

Jamal: (05:54)
Former champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, I know she was the Polish broadcast. What are they saying back in Poland right now about their champ?

I don’t know what they say because I don’t have Wifi here so I cannot check it. But I think the whole Poland right now is celebrating. It’s amazing. I hope so people dance on the streets right now.

Jamal: (06:18)
Congratulations.

Thank you.

Speaker 4: (06:21)
Okay. You said that you want to rest right now, but when we should expect that you will come back and maybe you have a place where you will like to fight to have your first title defense?

I don’t know. Now I’m waiting for my son. And after that, we can talk about my next fight. Now I have to relax, celebrate, be happy this moment.

Hassan Royal Newspaper: (06:49)
Hassan Abdelrahman from Royal Newspaper here in UAE. I just want to congratulate you and say congratulations. You made a very good success tonight. I just want to ask you about your stay in Abu Dhabi. How do you feel while you are here [inaudible 00:07:11] until today?

No, it’s my second time here in Abu Dhabi and always it’s great stay here. Okay.

Speaker 5: (07:21)
Right here.

Wait, wait. No, it’s my second time here in Abu Dhabi and always when I’m here, it’s great place to visit. The atmosphere here is really good. People are really nice. Food is amazing. Right now it’s pandemic situation so we can stay in our hotel only and just go to the one beach here. But anyway, hotel was really nice. People would work over there. They are really nice food. Amazing. So acclimatization was really good. Everything was amazing. I will remember Abu Dhabi to the end of my life, thanks to what’s happened here. Amazing. Thank you, Abu Dhabi.

Speaker 5: (08:03)
Right back here. So you mentioned Thiago Santos. How do you see his match against the Glover Teixeira?

I think he going to knock him out. I believe he got knock out punch power, and I think that he can knock him out, but we will see it. Teixeira, he also had a second life in his career. Right now he’s in really good shape, but I hope so the fight will go on because how many times did they cancel it? Twice, yeah? So I hope so now they make it and we will see.

Speaker 5: (08:37)
You mentioned that you would like to fight him if he wins against Glover. But if Glover wins, how’d you see him as an opponent?

Also really good. Now in 205, the division is amazing right now, a lot of really good fighters, young fighters. So it is a lot of opponents over there. We will see. I would like to fight Jon Jones or Thiago. If not, we will see what the UFC give me in that.

Speaker 5: (09:07)
Back about Thiago, what would be different between your first fight and now if you guys fight again?

I can not tell you, but the score will be different.

Speaker 6: (09:18)
Jan, right here. What did you make of Israel Adesanya’s performance in the [inaudible 00:09:25] event if you got to see it?

I don’t see it. I just see the finish.

Speaker 6: (09:29)
A lot of people were talking about him moving up to 205. Would that’d be a fight that would interest you down the road?

Maybe. Why not? Yeah. He say that before something in the interviews.

Speaker 6: (09:39)
Yeah.

See, you got another one. So why not? We can try to do this. So I’m open, but give me two weeks break.

Speaker 6: (09:52)
Congrats.

Thank you.

Speaker 7: (09:53)
Anybody else? All good? Great. All right, Jan. That’s it.

Yep. Thank you.

Speaker 7: (09:54)
[inaudible 00:09:54] in front of you. Throw it on, throw it on. Come back this way. I figured they [inaudible 00:10:32].

Thank you.

Dana White: (10:48)
Fight of the night was Kai Kara-France and Royval. And then the performance of the nights went to Blachowicz and Adesanya. These guys all won $50,000 so congratulations to them.

Speaker 1: (11:02)
I was going to ask you about Adesanya. Clearly, your performance of the night, worthy man. Just what did you think about him in there tonight?

Dana White: (11:07)
Well, so much for fight of the year, but domination of the year. I mean, it was weird because if you look at every other fight that Costa has had, he comes out and goes after people like they owe him money. And I think he landed one jab in this fight. Didn’t try to clinch in the fence, didn’t try to put pressure, kept going back to the center of the octagon. Very weird.

Speaker 1: (11:34)
Yeah. It was weird. I mean, do you think he was in his head, or was it just the antics that slowed everything down? What happened?

Dana White: (11:41)
You’re going to have to ask him that question. I have no idea. But no matter what it was, Adesanya put on a clinic. I mean, the first three calf kicks busted up his leg, then he hit him right on the side of the knee, had a huge welt on the side of the knee, then the shin to the eye and just absolutely dismantled him and easily won the fight.

Speaker 1: (12:05)
Yeah. He said he likes the idea of Jared Cannonier next if he wins. Does that sound like a good fight to you?

Dana White: (12:10)
Yeah. I mean, that’s the fight if Cannonier wins.

Speaker 1: (12:12)
And he-

Dana White: (12:13)
And I love that about Israel. He’s ready for who’s next. Who else thinks they can beat me? The kid is an absolute stud tonight. Congratulations to him and Costa. They broke a bunch of records tonight, man. Unbelievable. Their stare down. When we went live, their stare down was the biggest stare down ever, most viewed ever in UFC history. It beat Khabib and Conor by 1.5 million when the show started. I don’t know what it’s at now.

Speaker 1: (12:44)
It’s crazy. He was chatting you up afterwards. Was that really just about weight cutting the whole time? Was that what he-

Dana White: (12:48)
Yeah, two of his guys. So yeah, he was all fired up about that. He’s not wrong, but that’s not our place. That’s the commission that handles that, but he’s not wrong. Take 80 or 90% of anybody’s money, they’re going to show up the right way-

Dana White: (13:03)
[inaudible 00:13:01] 90% of anybody’s money, they’re going to show up the right way.

Speaker 1: (13:05)
You got a new light heavyweight champion as well, what did you think about Jan Blachowicz performance tonight?

Dana White: (13:08)
He looked awesome, man. He looked unbelievable. It was like he had a laser on that kick to the body, man. That thing kept landing right in the same place and was ripping Reyes apart. And I believe that was a huge factor in the fight.

Speaker 1: (13:25)
Question, immediately, he calls out Jon Jones basically. Can you tell us what is going on with Jon? Would he come back down as heavyweight? What’s up with him?

Dana White: (13:34)
Listen, you guys know as much as I know about Jon Jones. But yeah, I like that he wants to fight Jon. He could have called out whoever the next contender is and whatever. The fact that these guys respect Jones enough, and the fact that they want to be the guy who beats the guy, I love it.

Speaker 1: (13:55)
Get asked about Diego Sanchez. He told us coming into this fight that he’s got four fights left on his deal, he wants to fight out that contract. I know you’ve got a ton of respect for Diego Sanchez and everything he’s done. Are you comfortable with him fighting out four fights?

Dana White: (14:07)
I love Diego Sanchez. And I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s something I got to think about and it’s obviously something that I got to talk to the guys about back when we get home in the office and see what everybody thinks. I want to do what’s… you know, I got these guys now. You got Diego Sanchez who fights his heart out every time he fights. He was part of Tough One. Everybody knows how I feel about those guys. And he’s just a great person. Then you got Cowboy who you can say all the same things about. As these guys start to get older and start racking up some losses, it’s tough to… but Diego’s, like, I want to say, I don’t know for sure off the top of my head, but he was like won three out of his last five or something like that. But yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough. It’s it’s the not fun part of this job.

Speaker 1: (15:07)
For sure. A couple of quick ones outside tonight. Connor McGregor made waves over the last 24 hours of Soul, talking about this… Well, first of all, sharing direct messages from you, did that upset you that he kind of shared private conversations?

Dana White: (15:18)
Listen. I’ve had people blowing me up left and right. I mean, everybody here knows, even the ladies. This is some man code stuff. It’s just something you don’t do. It’s one of the dirtiest things you can do, which by the way because we were just talking about Diego Sanchez and Diego Sanchez is in there in a private conversation that I was having with Connor. When you’re the number two or three ranked guy in the world and you’re telling me that you want to fight, but you want to fight on ranked 39 year old Diego Sanchez in a main event in Los Angeles.

Speaker 1: (15:59)
Yeah. Fair enough. How valid is this Pacquiao thing though? Can you comment on that? I mean, is this a real thing that could happen?

Dana White: (16:06)
I have no idea.

Speaker 1: (16:08)
No idea.

Dana White: (16:08)
Yeah. Listen, you guys have been asking me about Connor McGregor forever. Did you see Connor McGregor’s tweet?

Speaker 1: (16:17)
Which one? [inaudible 00:16:18].

Dana White: (16:19)
The retirement tweet.

Speaker 1: (16:20)
Oh yes.

Dana White: (16:20)
I’m retired. Birthday cake. I’m retired.

Speaker 1: (16:25)
Fair enough. Last one for me. There was a report that came out tonight, Khamzat Chimaev, obviously everybody’s excited about Khamzat, that said either Wonder Boy or Leon Edwards for December 19th. Can you give us any information on [crosstalk 00:16:37]?

Dana White: (16:37)
Where’d that come from?

Speaker 1: (16:38)
Brazilian Outlet? I believe.

Dana White: (16:43)
Yeah, they do that all the time. The Leon Edwards is not true, but we’ve offered it to Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy wants to fight Leon Edwards. So we’ll see how this plays out. That’s completely not true. Leon Edwards is not lined up to fight Khamzat. We were looking at Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy wants Leon. We’re nowhere on that thing. For anybody to report it, it’s total fucking bullshit and typical MMA fucking silliness.

Speaker 8: (17:16)
Dana.

Dana: (17:17)
When you see Paul Acosta in the first round, taunting and doing all this goofy stuff, that’s all well and good to entertain people, but he’s not winning the round. Do you sit there and get frustrated at a guy who’s letting the other, his opponent, start to get a lead on him?

Dana White: (17:30)
Yeah, it doesn’t frustrate me. I mean, you guys know enough about the sport that if he fought the way he fights… Look at the way he went after Yoel Romero, one of the most dangerous guys ever, and then he stays away. He stays on the outside, taking damage to that front leg. Then he gets, when he does rush in and get them up against the cage, he backs out to the center of the cage again. Just never tried to get in the clinch. I think he only landed a jab. Didn’t really throw any punches at all. Only through kicks. It was very weird. I just sat there going, holy shit. And then obviously Adda Sanya just went to work, picked him apart piece by piece, made it look really easy.

Dana: (18:27)
You mentioned the records this fight set in terms of numbers leading up to it. Obviously the fight itself was super anticipated. You’d promoted it as one of the greatest fights of the year, potentially. But is this also Fire Island playing a part again? Is it just something about this brand of Fire Island that just builds people’s excitement?

Dana White: (18:42)
Listen, the UFC is on fire right now. I mean, the records we broke tonight, we had done tons of records on social media. Social media records were off the charts and all the numbers that are coming in are massive. And every time we’re doing fights now, they’re big. I mean, if you look at our social media in the last year, UFC social media has gained 8 million followers in the last year, two and a half million since Florida. Mine has gained a million since Florida. The whole sport is, it’s on fire right now. Our numbers keep going up. Our ratings keep going up and it’s all good.

Dana: (19:27)
Is part of that because it’s not just like America that’s had nothing to do for the past few months, it’s the whole world has been shut down. So you’re getting followers from all over the world, or is it just America it’s building up in?

Dana White: (19:37)
Yeah, I think it’s because I didn’t listen to any of the fucking bullshit from the media and I went… and I think people liked it and people that never watched the sport before got into it and started to watch, and the growth has been phenomenal. I think that’s a big part of it. It’s not a coincidence that all these numbers have gone up since Florida.

Dana: (20:08)
How big do you anticipate [inaudible 00:20:09] are you going to be then?

Dana White: (20:11)
How big does what?

Dana: (20:12)
How big is, Khabib, Gaithje going to be?

Dana White: (20:14)
Yeah. So the question is now, does Khabib Gaithje break the records that we broke tonight?

Dana: (20:20)
Last one for me, earlier today, Nate Diaz put out a promotional video of himself and [inaudible 00:20:25], obviously saying round four, wanting the rematch with Masvidal. Have you got any progress on that fight?

Dana White: (20:31)
No.

Dana: (20:32)
Is it possible that you guys are looking at Masvidal versus Colby instead?

Dana White: (20:36)
Yeah.

Dana: (20:38)
Is that because [crosstalk 00:20:38].

Dana White: (20:39)
It’s very possible.

Dana: (20:40)
Is that just because negotiations with Nate didn’t go anywhere?

Dana White: (20:43)
No. I don’t even know if we talked to Nate yet. But yeah, after the Colby fight, how do you not make that fight? That’s a fight that makes sense. The Nate Diaz, rematch is going to be there no matter what happens.

Dana: (20:57)
And actually just one more thing. Have you heard anywhere further with Nick Diaz?

Dana White: (21:02)
No. I told you guys this last time. All right, Jamal.

Jamal: (21:08)
I want to talk about Brandon Roy Val. This guy’s had two UFC fights and it looks like he’s going to be fighting a top five opponent. Huge, fast track. And maybe he’s one fight away, two fights away from a title fight. Just thoughts on this guy.

Dana White: (21:20)
Yeah. Fight of the night winner. Awesome fight. Awesome finish. And he’s an exciting kid. I love it.

Jamal: (21:32)
I want to talk about what’s next for Jan Blachowicz. Is it for sure the winner of Tiago Santos and Glover to Shera, if that fight is still going to happen, would get Jan Blachowicz, or if Jon Jones puts his name in the hat, would he get that opportunity over them?

Dana White: (21:46)
Yeah. Those are the guys that are fighting for the next shot. But obviously if Jon Jones wanted that fight, we wouldn’t deny Jon Jones the opportunity.

Jamal: (21:57)
Khabib was in attendance tonight, he was cornering. His teammate was wondering what conversation, if any, you had with the Khabib?

Dana White: (22:02)
I didn’t see him tonight. Yeah. I didn’t see him.

Jamal: (22:05)
And lastly, I want to talk about Leon Edwards. We brought him up earlier. Do you think he’s going to get booked for a fight in 2020? Is he turning down fights? What’s his status?

Dana White: (22:15)
No. We’re we’re ready to book him. Yeah. Hopefully he’ll fight this year. Hopefully. If not, he’ll fight the beginning of next year, the very beginning of January or something.

Jamal: (22:26)
Any issues with visas coming to the United States or would it be here and Fight Island?

Dana White: (22:30)
Yeah, it would be anybody who’s coming from out of the country that isn’t easy to get into the States, would fight here.

Jamal: (22:36)
Thank you.

Speaker 5: (22:37)
Right here. I know there was a lot of expectations for this fight, this match Paulo Costa versus Adesanya. Are you a little disappointed? Are you disappointed for what you saw today?

Dana White: (22:51)
Listen, when you break down a fight and you think about how the fights going to go, that shouldn’t have been the fight that happened. Tonight should have been a much tougher fight. But you can’t be disappointed when you have somebody that’s as talented as Adesanya and he comes out and imposes his will, and literally dismantles a guy as good and as tough Costa. You don’t look at the fight and go, “Oh, I guess Costa wasn’t this or that.” No Costa is that good? And he’s a Savage and normally… but Adesanya shut him down tonight and absolutely put on a clinic and destroyed him. You can’t be upset about that. I mean, if those guys went in there and did nothing for five rounds, I’d be disappointed. But when a guy continues to gain more confidence every time he gets in there and just looks better, and better, and better, and beats a guy, that’s that good the way that he beat him tonight, you can’t be disappointed about that.

Speaker 5: (23:53)
And what about Paulo? What’s next for him?

Dana White: (23:56)
I don’t know, man. I’m sure he’s devastated right now. I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him that question when he comes in.

Speaker 5: (24:06)
I will. Last one from me, Sarah McMann was going to fight here on Fight Island. Second fight that an opponent gets injured. The first one was Aspen and now Raquel, where do you see Sarah right now? I’m sure she’s ready and waiting for a fight.

Dana White: (24:23)
Wait, are you saying that two of her opponents have fallen out?

Speaker 5: (24:26)
Yeah.

Dana White: (24:27)
Oh, I didn’t even know that.

Speaker 5: (24:28)
Oh, okay.

Dana White: (24:30)
Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that question. Love Sarah and hopefully we can get her something else, and get her a fight. I’m sure we can.

Speaker 5: (24:40)
Thank you.

Speaker 9: (24:41)
Okay. Hello, sir. Here. So Poland has a new UFC champion. You are not to him and a couple of our Polish fighters together, pretty good fight card to put in an event in Poland. Of course we have a like, crazy times right now, but if there will be a possibility in two thousand twenty one. It will be one of your priorities to make an event in Poland?

Dana White: (25:06)
Yeah. Well, obviously you’re as hopeful as I am for 21. I keep saying, I can’t wait for 20 to be over and wait for 21. I don’t know what I’m expecting, but yeah, hopefully the world gets normal again and we can go everywhere, including Poland.

Speaker 9: (25:23)
Okay. So last week you made an interview for [inaudible 00:25:27] sport and you said that [inaudible 00:25:29] may fight another open and then the rematch with Whaley Zang. And I heard that when she was informed about it yesterday, she shows surprise and she said that she will call you. And she probably… She did it or not? She didn’t call you?

Dana White: (25:44)
No. She hasn’t called me.

Speaker 9: (25:45)
Okay. But it’s like confirm information that, that she will need to fight one more fight before potential rematch with Whaley or fight with a Rose?

Dana White: (25:56)
Yeah. She would definitely have to have another fight. Rose is going to get the next fight against Whaley and then…

Dana White: (26:03)
Rose is going to get the next fight against Weili, and then we’d Joanna another fight.

Speaker 9: (26:05)
Okay, and last one for me. UFC signed a new Polish fighter, undefeated two double champion [inaudible 00:26:18]. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jon Blachowicz said that they both believed that he is the next UFC champion from Poland. Do you heard about him? And do you have any thoughts about this guy?

Dana White: (26:27)
What’s the question?

Speaker 10: (26:27)
[inaudible 00:26:33].

Dana White: (26:36)
Oh, the kid-

Speaker 9: (26:36)
17 and O.

Dana White: (26:38)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no. We’re excited about him. We’re excited to get him in here and see what he can do. Yeah. Very excited.

Speaker 9: (26:46)
Thank you very much.

Dana White: (26:47)
Thank you.

Hassan Abdul Ahmad, Royal Newspaper here from UAE. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on all the success. I have been covering your 242 and then 249 and then 253 all these championships and have been following them and very happy to see UFC here.

Dana White: (27:16)
Thank you.

Now I’d like to ask you after one year of a relationship with the city of Abu Dhabi, how do you value it this relationship up to date? This is September. Actually. You started with them in last September 2019. How do you evaluate this relationship with them? And to what extent you are happy about everything.

Dana White: (27:43)
Yeah. I’ve had a relationship with Abu Dhabi … I’ve had a relationship here for over a decade. And it’s always been incredible. Obviously with what’s going on right now, the way that these guys have pulled together and worked with us to pull off Fight Island One and Two, I really can’t put into words for you how incredible it is and what’s been done here.

Dana White: (28:15)
The service has been phenomenal. The venue, just everything from the flight here, till we get back on the flight and go home, you don’t get service like this anywhere in the world. We’re at the W Hotel here in Abu Dhabi. You don’t get better service at the Four Seasons. You don’t get better service at name the hotel. This place will kick its ass. It’s not even close. And you ask any of my staff how they feel, and I’m sure much in the media too, if you look at what’s going on in the world right now, what we’re doing here in Abu Dhabi there’s nothing like it.

And the second question is, how do you evaluate the performance of the Arab fighters up to date now we are trying to help UFC to promote the idea for the Arab new talents.

Speaker 10: (29:10)

Yeah. Arab fighters.

Dana White: (29:16)
[crosstalk 00:29:16] Yeah. Okay. So once you’re in a market long enough like this here in Abu Dhabi or wherever it is, not only does the fan base start to grow, but so does the talent. And we’re seeing that. Watch what happens here over the next five or six years, there’ll be serious talent coming out of this region.

These all for me. Thank you very much.

Dana White: (29:42)
Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Speaker 10: (29:43)

Dana White: (29:48)
Go ahead.

Speaker 11: (29:49)
Sorry. Do you think Adesanya can be the new Anderson Silva of the division?

Dana White: (29:54)
Yeah. Well, I think he’s going to be the new Adesanya of the division. He’s got his own style and his own way about him. Yeah. I think he’s going to be the next big superstar here, especially after tonight’s performance.

Dana White: (30:09)
Good. Thank you guys. Have a good night.

Israel Adesanya: (30:11)
Where’s my white belt? Oh sorry it’s a gold belt. [inaudible 00:05:01]. All right. That’s good enough? No? [foreign language 00:05:23].

Speaker 1: (31:22)
Israel congratulations. That was an absolute clinic out there tonight. I mean, obviously you promise to finish him. You promised to do what you did tonight. But did you think he was going to play out the way it did?

Yeah, pretty much. I told you guys. One thing I got to say is I’m the experts, the body analysis experts. And I find it funny how everyone was like, “Oh my God, he’s in Izzy’s head. He’s in his head.” Bro, all week what I did, I built a condo in front of a beach front property in Rio de Janeiro inside his head from the first meeting. I met him and I knew I was like, “Bro, there’s no cameras, there’s nothing. And he didn’t keep that same energy.” And I knew. And then at the beach. Fuck, it was hot. And he had his little [foreign language 00:06:04], his little mean girls crew that were just hammering up anything he said and just laughing in the background. I was like, “You got a laugh crowd with you? Your little [foreign language 00:06:12]” And it was just funny to me.

And then at the weigh ins, that stare down. I could see it already. I knew what was going to do. I knew had a black belt underneath his shirt. And I knew I was going to try hand me a white belt. And I know that’s the work of old cringe, little gremlin, little Smeagol. And yeah, he tried to throw it in my face and I swooped it with my left hand and I whooped him in his face with my right hand.

And I was so fast with it and then I just knew he was going to do the same thing when he was like, “Come, come, stay, come here.” And I knew if I walked to him and stare him in the eyes going to push me. I’m 10 steps ahead. I told you guys I’m 10 steps ahead. You guys thinks that these are just words. I was 10 steps ahead.

So I knew when he did that he was going to do the same thing in the fight. I told my coach, you’ll see it on my documentary. Because I’ve even said it on camera. He’s going to do the same thing and the fight going to “Come I’m here. Come, come.” And he did the same thing in the cage. He tried to pretend he was running, clowning around. So, I was humble tonight.

Speaker 1: (33:09)
So you saw all the taunting coming. Did you see that he was going to be so kick heavy in his approach? I think that surprised a lot of us that he didn’t unleash the punches that we thought we might see, more of the kicks.

Punches. I told you guys in the pre-fight, I’m not a human punching bag. He’s only fought human punching bags, guys who just stand there and cover up. And then they just let him tee off on them. And I knew because he was cutting me off. Bro, we are the best. City Kickboxing.

He closed off his left side. So he can only give me his right side. But when he overly committed to the left side, closing it off I had heaps of room to move on the right side. He kicked me twice in the ribs, meh. Nothing. I ate those. The second one I made him pay. And then I think the third time he tried to do that, he went to the head and I felt it go past.

There was one jab he threw. Andre was telling me that there was one jab he threw that in the slow-mo he thought it was going to hit me, and I just happened to move my head in like the last split second. And it’s just because of him because me and Andre played ten rounds of table tennis to cut weight. He whooped my ass nine two one, but each time it was another one and there’s a never say die attitude.

And also he had breakfast and coffee and a date right before. So I’m telling Jeff Lavinzky for that. And I still want my rematch Andre because he knows I’ll whoop his ass.

Speaker 1: (34:25)
I know you’re confident.

Where are you at Andre?

Speaker 1: (34:30)
I know you’re confident in your game, your execution, but obviously anything can happen in a fight, but was there a moment that you were like, “Nope, I got this guy it’s done?”

After the first round. I was so fresh. I looked over and I could see it was sitting down. And the second round his antics were still. What they want is they want me to stand there. “You come, come. Here. Why are you running? Come here. No here.” You just want me to stand there so you can punch me.

I’m not stupid dummy. I told you he’s dumb. I’m smart. I understand this fucking game. This was my hundredth win in combat sports all around. Listen to one fight, two fight, three fight, four fights, five fights, six fights all the way to a fucking hundred. And I’ve had over a hundred fights. I’m not a fucking baby in this game. I’ve been in this shit for a long time, for a goddamn long time. And I’m still fresh. I’m 31. I look like I’m 26. I’m still fresh.

Speaker 1: (35:29)
You had a message for his corner afterwards. I’m curious if you can share a little bit of that conversation.

I don’t know, it was a freestyle, but I knew that little gremlin … The white glasses, the [jiz 00:35:38] glasses, all his little antics. He was the one that was hamming it up at the presser. Anything [foreign language 00:35:45] said. Like his little bitch, like his little girlfriend. He was the one that was his idea with the whole black belt, white belt thing.

And even before the fight, I could see him through the fence. My peripherals could see him through the fence trying to like … He was doing this shit. Literally he was doing this shit. (Singing). What do you think I’m going to do? Focus on you? I’ve got a beast in front of me. Someone who’s actually going to try and fuck me up. You know what I mean? So yeah. I’m not going to be … Bro. You can’t. This is bulletproof. This is bulletproof. You can’t get through this. So I said something to him. I can’t remember. And he said, “We’re coming for you.” And I was like, “nah, I’m coming on you.”

Speaker 1: (36:25)
Last thing for me, I know you’ve got a lot of respect for Jared Cannonier are you expecting him to prevail in that fight? And you think that’s going to be the next matchup?

[crosstalk 00:36:32] Yep. I think Jared is going to dust Robert Whittaker and I look forward to fighting him. What we said in the Dms, he said he wants to get it done like [foreign language 00:36:40] and I said, “I look forward to that.”

Yeah. I think he’s going to get it done. I’m rooting for him. But if Robert Whittaker wins and he wants to get knocked out a third time, I can make that happen too.

Dana: (36:51)
Izzy. When you have a fighter in front of you taunting, I know that you’re saying you’re bullet proof that taunting doesn’t upset you or anything, but do you just think to yourself, “You’re giving me free points here. You’re letting me just tag you and you’ll letting me have it my way?”

They already know they can’t go five rounds. So what their tactic was maybe hold off until the fifth round or in the later rounds and then come on. Stupid because you’re giving away rounds. You’re giving away points.

I kept on tagging his legs with different kinds of kicks. And I knew his leg was compromised and he was trying to … All that shit. I’m telling you, man. I read. Every time I interact with you, I learn more about you. Every single time. And I interacted with him three times. And by the third time I knew I had him. I knew he’d showed me his hand. He’d do exactly what he did.

And all that taunting shit. Bro. I’m a troll. You guys think you’re a troll. I’m a fucking troll, but I’m grown now. So I know how to play the game properly. And I wasn’t going to get sucked into his game. I knew all that shit stuff going to work as long as I keep fucking him up and keep touching him. And that’s what I did.

Dana: (37:50)
His leg looked pretty badly damaged. Was that the [inaudible 00:37:54] to the shin? Do you think you hyper-extended his knee?

No, I think it’s just my skinny shins. My skinny shins sliced his legs up and you could probably see the marks I left on his legs. Yeah. Because I did what I did to Brunson. I like before the fight in Brunson I said, “Let’s go a bitch. I’ll show you skinny.” When I was in my stance. In this fight I looked at him and I said something. And I’ll watch it back and read my lips, but I said something about being skinny.

And this fight this is the biggest platform so my narrative for this fight because everyone said “He’s a bully. Or he walks people down. This and that [inaudible 00:38:27].” And it’s not fucking news to anyone that I’d been bullied my whole life. So for me back then, I didn’t really have the skill or the will to be able to fight back. You know what I mean?

So when this guy and his little [inaudible 00:38:42] were doing what they were doing, I was like, “All right, watch this.” And now I know what to do. I have the will and I have the skill to take the bite out of the bully. So yeah, that’s what I did.

Dana: (38:54)
Was the fight essentially over after he landed the head kick? Was he compromised at that point?

Nah, it was over before that. It was over after the first round. But I just yeah …

But before that it was over after the first round. But yeah I wanted to take the bite out of the bully. Because even some of the shit he did online, a reporter showed me this video of him with his little entrance and his little skit that they made and some little memes and other shit he’s been doing. Because that’s what kids now, back then we didn’t have that when I was growing up, but now kids they go through that shit. Social media bullying. And he was trying to do that to me.

And for me, it’s like he was trying to trigger out the younger Izzy, but you do that and you’ll get the big dog in the yard now. You know? So I dedicate this fight to anyone, whether it be at school or at home, or even at work if your boss is grinding you, I dedicate this fight to you guys because you have to fight back. You can’t just take that all the time. You have to bite back.

Dana: (39:52)
And last one for me. Ahead of this fight, you famously dyed your hair pink. And then when you shaved it off, you said there was a tactical reason that you shaved your pink hair off. You after the fight you’d tell us what it is. What is it?

My dad. Shout out to Oluwafemi, the big dog, big Fem dog Adesanya. He said, I’m going to blind them. I’m going to blind them with my jab. And when he’s compromised with one eye and I take the other eye out, if he sees a pink hue, he’ll still know where my head is. He’ll know. Okay. That’s where my head is. And he’ll just aim for the pink hue.

So I was like, “You’re right.” And like a good boy I listened to my dad. He’s a smart man.

Speaker 12: (40:28)
Izzy right here. Were you surprised at how much he bit on pretty much every faint you would throw in there?

Nope. I’ll post a meme after this. There was one with that belt, when I whipped him with that belt he froze. He was shocked. He was shook. And I knew I could make him react because after that he like [inaudible 00:01:47]. Went all bulldog on me. And I was just so relaxed and Steve was holding me up and I hit him with the crane kick.

I’m playful. This is fun to me. And I told Eugene right before we walked out, I was like, “Let’s have fun in there. I’m going to be smart and tactical and systematic, but we’re going to have fun in there.” You know what I mean? And I still did.

Speaker 12: (41:05)
And then your comments about fining people that miss weight 90% was that directed at your teammates Shane’s-

[crosstalk 00:41:11] Yep. And the guy that Mr. Dawodu fought. It’s just cheating. I saw the guy that Dawodu fought right after with 90 minutes left he’s on the blueberries and the water and whatnot. These guys, some of them are gangsters. Some of them are making money outside the UFC. Some of them have trust funds, 30% of their purse ain’t shit.

But I’m telling you, if you fine someone 90% of your purse if you miss weight, I guarantee you no matter how much money you’re [waking 00:41:40] no one’s going to go through this whole camp, through this whole shit and be willing to give 90% of their pay to the other guy. They will take that 90 minutes they had left to make the weight. They’ll take every second to make the weight.

So enough of this 30% bullshit because it’s not working. We saw it happen at 221 in the main event where I debuted. And you saw he got rewarded with a title shot. So yeah, I’m over this.

Because we have guys like Carlos Ulberg and Blood Diamond, who aren’t even in the UFC yet and they were ready. They were already close to their weight. They are professionals. So if you can’t hack it, go home because we have killers who are ready to go.

Speaker 12: (42:17)
And what did you make of your teammates performances in there? I know Kai and Shane came up short but Kai did get a performance bonus fight of the night and then of course Brad Riddell picked up another win.

Yeah. I have to watch it again. I think Kai hurt his guy, but kudos to the other guy. He did something unorthodox a spinning elbow-

Speaker 12: (42:36)
[crosstalk 00:42:36] A spinning elbow yeah.

Yeah. And Shane’s guy, who cares. He missed weight. He cheated. It doesn’t matter. But kudos to Kai’s guy. He did very well. But yeah. Shout out to Eugene. He knows. Fuck the other guy. He missed weight. If you miss weight, it doesn’t matter. Don’t take the fight or move up in weight.

Speaker 12: (42:55)
And then one final one, a couple of your fellow fighters, like Jon Jones and Marvin Vettori are commenting something with your left pec. Was there an injury or anything at all or right pec I should say?

Why are they looking at my titties?

Speaker 12: (43:08)
You’d have to ask them.

Yeah.

Speaker 13: (43:11)
Okay. Israel here. You said in the past that you are interested in a fighting of the light heavyweight champion. Now 205 has a new king. Are you still interested to fight the Super fight champion versus champion in the light heavyweight?

Maybe I’ll have to ask to Eugene, but like what I said about Anderson Silva, Anderson Silva defended his belt so many times. So many times in the middleweight division. And then he went up to light heavyweight for little shows.

I just wanted to fuck up Jon Jones and I still will. But I just have to talk to Eugene because even he talked about Stipe Miocic and other things. So yeah. Everything’s open. Cheddar makes it better. Cheddar makes it better.

Jamal: (43:52)
Yeah. Izzy. Great victory.

The Schmoe. Sorry I missed your interview. My bad on that one. We’re just busy. We’re flat out but-

Jamal: (44:00)
We’ll do it on the way home.

All right. No worries.

Jamal: (44:02)
You’ve now been in seven of the current fifteen top middleweights. It’s the champ chap era. What do you have left to prove? I know you on Cannonier next if he beats Whittaker, or the winner of that fight. What do you have left to prove in this division?

There’s still … Fuck. Hold up, hold up. The joker. The joker. I liked his win over Kelvin Gastelum. I want to showcase my grappling a little bit. I was hoping he would try tonight so I can show him what the white belt can do because I’m a white belt for life.

But yeah, Cannonier next if he gets Pat Robert. And yeah, there’s a lot left to do in this game. And I’m just steadily working my way day by day, fight by fight. You would say seven guys in the top fifteen. I mean, Paul only fought two and everyone was like, “Aw, this Israel’s all hype. It’s all hype.”

But I love the hype. And I’m just saying if there was any hype job, it was him. He only fought two guys in the fucking top fifteen and I fought six. That’s triple the amount of top fifteen guys he’s fought or top 10 guys he’s fought and they still call me a hype job. I ain’t no hype job, but I’m all hype.

Jamal: (45:11)
And to yourself, what do you have to do to be cemented as the greatest UFC middleweight of all times for passing Anderson Silva?

Keep doing what I’m doing. Listen to my coaches. Listen to my team and keep doing what I’m doing because that’s what got me to the dance. I didn’t have to go get no other coach to come in and tell us what to do. I stay true to the people that got me to the dance since day one. And I said that at the presser. So I keep doing what I’m doing. Listen to my coaches.

And yeah, I love … This doesn’t mean anything. This thing is beautiful. And I told you, gold looks good on black skin, but it doesn’t mean anything. For me it’s about the victories, the champion, the names you collect, the scalps you take along the way. If I lost this tonight, God forbid if I lost this and I wouldn’t have cared about this, I would have been sad I lost the fight. That’s all I care about is fighting. This is just nice because cheddar makes it better. It brings more money, more notoriety, all that kind of shit. But yeah, I just keep doing what I’m doing and my legacy will be cemented in time.

Jamal: (46:16)
You were the last fighter to step inside the octagon before this pandemic wiped everything away. What was it like to be back inside there in this venue and do what you do?

I love it. Honestly. It’s much better to be honest. You don’t have these drunk guys who’ve been drinking since six hours ago yelling “Knock him out. Stand them up ref. Twist his dick.” Yeah, just I love fans, don’t get me wrong. This event would have been beautiful with fans, but in the same breath, some of them in droves are stupid. Like dumb as fuck. But individually, when I have individual interactions with fans, I have some beautiful interactions most times, but when they have this mob mentality, they’re dumb as pig shit.

Right here. So you mentioned Anderson Silva in the cage. Do you think you can repeat or beat his record during his prime?

Yes, but that’s not my goal to be honest. I’m not trying to repeat because they’ll never be another Anderson Silva. For me it’s just being me. Being the last and the only style bender and keep doing what I’m doing.

Like I said, all the guys he ran through on his run I would have beat them as well. So it’s not about quantity. It’s about the quality. And already I have some really good quality wins on my belt. That’s my 15th knockout and my 100th win. My 15 knockout in MMA. But that’s my 100th win in fighting. In fighting. That’s like I said, I’ve been doing this for a long time. So I’m not chasing his legacy. I’m chasing my own legacy.

Congratulations.

[foreign language 00:08:55].

Last one for me. Do you still think about going up a weight class or are you only wanting to face Jon Jones.

Yeah, I definitely will go up in weight class, whether it be heavyweight or light heavyweight.



How are you?

I’m very well.

Very congratulations. Heartfelt congratulations for huge victory.

[crosstalk 00:48:18] Thank you.

We spoke before the fight and you promise to do this what do you have done today so congrats. I just want to ask you if you are invited to come again and fight here in Abu Dhabi would you accept to come back and fight here?

A hundred percent.

And give me your impression about everything you have seen here in Abu Dhabi and they are trying their best to be the capital of the fighting games.

He’s just getting his phone now, hold up.

Yeah, please.

Definitely. I’ll definitely come back to fight in Abu Dhabi. I mean amidst a pandemic, one of the reporters asked in the presser some question I was like what makes the UFC different and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And missed the pandemic [inaudible 00:49:16]. And I almost interrupted the questioning. I kind of didn’t. I was like this guy. It’s what got the UFC to where it is. Like Joe Rogan says, “Without Dana White, none of this would be possible.” It’s because of him. I’m not boot licking or anything, but I’m just spitting facts. It is what got us here right now because everyone, when Fight Island came around and everyone was like, “Why would you put on a show where in the midst of a pandemic? How dare you?” And they got shut down. But Hey [foreign language 00:00:49:40] man. The UFC, this is what we do. We’re not like any other sport. Motherfuckers wished that we was. They wish, they try, this is what we’re doing.

You fucking kick a ball into a net or over a post or whatever. All we’re trying to see is who is the baddest motherfucker. And we really get to do that shit. We really prove that shit. So, yeah, right now amidst the pandemic the UFC is leading the way in all sporting organizations, all sporting leagues, the UFC is leading the charge and showing what can be done amidst a pandemic and keeping everyone safe.

And look, we’ve got an Island in Abu Dhabi shut down from the outside world. Quarantine tested like a motherfucker. Everyone getting checked and checked and rechecked and quad triple checked. It’s second to none. I was quite impressed. It was a little bit tedious when you’re trying to cut weight, but I’m still impressed


Any more, any more. All right. Thank you guys. I know … Congratulations. Okay. Thank you guys. I know this has been crazy times, but thank you guys for what you do. And I know I give you guys a hard time sometimes, but thank you for what you do.

But always remember, please always remember, you guys wouldn’t have a job if we don’t step in that fucking cage. So be mindful with your click bait headlines please. Be mindful with the stories you write and the tones you use. Even if you want to criticize a fighter, please criticize away. I am open to criticism because I am human, but be mindful with your click bait headlines, because one of you will get checked and slapped with a belt one day. My white belt. Over a hundred fights since 2008. I’m going to be great.

Thank you guys.

UFC 253 Post-Fight Press Conference Transcript

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