The UFC held their traditional pre-fight press conference today for UFC on FOX 5 from the Seattle Center Pavilion inside KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.
In attendance were UFC President Dana White, as well as lightweight champ Benson Henderson and challenger Nate Diaz, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Alexander Gustafsson, B.J. Penn and Rory MacDonald, Mike Swick and Matt Brown.
Check out the highlights below thanks to MMAmania.com.
Dana White
- I don’t think Benson’s had his due yet. He’s had tough fights, close fights where people were saying Frankie might have won. This is the fight for him. Nate Diaz is mean and nasty and finishes people by knockout or submission. This is the fight for Ben Henderson.
- Gilbert Melendez is hurt right now. I’m glad they are talking about what they’ll do instead of just saying they won’t fight each other.
- I know both of these guys personally and I wouldn’t say they are that much different. Nate comes off publicly a certain way but he’s a good dude. I’ve never had any problems with Nate ever. Ben’s a great guy. He’s more open and public in front of cameras. He loves it. He’s into it. Stylistically? They’re different fighters. Both Diaz brothers are different.
- We’re probably gonna move Phil Davis to another card.
- If Alexander can beat Shogun, he gets the shot. If Shogun beats him, he gets it. Unless some crazy shit happens, the winner of this fight will get the next shot.
- It always helps. It’s never a bad thing if the guy who holds the title is from there. With the way things have been going for us lately, do you know how happy I am that all the guys we picked to be on this card are still here? Fox loved this card, everybody loved this card. I’m just happy to be here. I’ll make sure nobody falls off this fucking podium or anything in the next 24 hours. It’s been a while. I’m excited.
- I’m introducing Ronda Rousey as the first women’s champion in the UFC at 135 lbs. I’m going to make February 23rd at the Honda Center. She’ll be fighting Liz Carmouche and she is the main event.
- The Cyborg fight will happen eventually, hopefully next. Liz Carmouche wanted to fight her. People aren’t kicking doors down to fight her.
Benson Henderson
- He likes to come forward, I like to come forward as well. My last two fights I wasn’t able to come forward as much. I like to be aggressive and he likes to go forward and be aggressive. We’re very similar but go about it in different ways. Once we go into the Octagon, it’ll be fun.
Nate Diaz
- Yeah, I’m pretty much year round, I try to eat raw foods as much as I can. Raw food restaurants, not just broccoli and lettuce. There’s entrees and stuff. Look it up. I’ve been vegan since I was 18 years old and I’ve been raw for the last year and a half.
- Whatever. People try to stick [the bad boy image] on me more than I do.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
- When you train with tough guys, it improves your game too. It’s important to be around the right people and that’s why Gustafsson has got better.
Alexander Gustafsson
- It’s the most important fight of my career and by far the toughest guy. When I win this fight I will be up in the mix and I’ll be ready for the champ whether it’s Chael or Jones.
- Shogun has been in this sport for a long time and he has his tricks. I’ll be ready for everything on Saturday.
B.J. Penn
- I believe a human being only has so much fight in him. I believe over the course of my career I was able to take time off that was needed. I believe it was very healthy to get this rest off this past year. It was very good for me, mental physical, emotional everything. My body got rejuvenated from the inside.
- Rory said he took this fight because he’s gonna hurt me. He said I was probably gonna die in the ring. He better be able to back up everything he said. If you want to say stuff like that, you’d better be able to back it up.
Rory MacDonald
- I wanted to wear a suit today.
- How I took the Road to the Octagon thing was he said he was fighting to get his legacy back. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I don’t know his motivation. If that’s true, if you’re fighting for someone’s opinion, your status, that’s the wrong motivation. It’s gonna get him hurt.
Mike Swick
- Matt Brown said he was better than me in every area so we’ll have to find out on Saturday.
Matt Brown
- I learned from past mistakes when I lost some fights. I learned a lot from my losses and to take it one fight at a time, not to dwell on mistakes and fix them. To take it one day at a time.
