The UFC held a press conference today to officially announce their second installment for UFC on Fox. UFC on FOX 2: “Evans vs. Davis” is scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 28, 2012.
In attendance at todays press conference were the headlining fighters of the evening, Rashad Evans, Phil Davis, Chael Sonnen, Mark Munoz, Michael Bisping and Demian Maia as well as UFC President Dana White.
Full UFC on Fox Highlights…
Dana White
– Winner of Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz fights Anderson Silva, winner of Bisping/Maia gets winner of that fight.
– Winner of Rashad Evans/Phil Davis gets winner of Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida at UFC 140.
– Bisping came out of The Ultimate Fighter 14 fight with no injuries and jumped at the chance to fight on Fox.
– Putting the UFC on Fuel was a deliberate strategy by Fox to expand the distribution of Fuel. You can’t be a UFC fan and not have Fuel TV. They’ve already gone up 11%. The distribution is going to happen for Fuel.
– We were due to come back to Chicago. It was time and obviously this is the venue. I doubt it will take another 3 years to get back to Chicago.
– It’s boxing talk to be worried about “spoiling” someone’s title shot. These guys know in the UFC they’ll be fighting the best every time. You always have to be prepared and ready to fight the best on short notice.
– Anderson Silva should be ready to fight by summer.
– On nights when we do free fights and there’s a boxing PPV, both events do better. The times don’t overlap. Every night we go the same night as a boxing PPV both events do better.
– Now that we have this deal with Fox what we’re going to do is expand our fan base.
– No I didn’t avoid booking knock out artists for Fox. We’ve got some brutal guys fighting here. Rashad’s KO of Sean Salmon, it doesn’t get more violent than that. We’ll have a mix of submissions, knock outs, ground and pound. That’s the sport.
– We didn’t make the decision not to be on Spike. Someone high up at Viacom made that decision and now they’re acting mad at me.
– With the first season of The Ultimate Fighter on FX, not only will the fights be live, but the reality portion will be what we call ‘jive live’ meaning it will have been taped within the last two days.
– We’ll be adding a 125lb division next.
Rashad Evans
– He’s a fighter that has some of the same strengths as I have as far as wrestling. I think he’s pretty explosive, he has good wrestling and he goes for it. I just have to go in there and be ready to compete and go hard.
– I live downtown in Chicago. One pressure is a lot of people want tickets but that’s a good problem to have.
– It would be good to fight Machida and redeem my loss but with Jon Jones we have that personal beef and I definitely want to put my hands on him.
– It was hard to change teams but after changing my situation I can see what was missing in my old camp. At my new situation things feel fresh again. In the old days at Jackson it was about team, but that changed and its good to be back at a situation where it’s about the team again.
– I guarantee (Phil Davis) will be the first one to take a shot cause I’m going to be putting my hands on you like that other guy with them kids at Penn State.
Phil Davis
– Unfortunately Rashad keeps getting hurt when he’s up for that title shot. If me winning messes that up for him, that’s what I’ll do.
– I’m not concerned about ring rust at all. I was off and I was training as much as I could on a bum knee and once the knee was healed I’ve been training hard.
– I think Alliance MMA is gym of the year. Dominick Cruz is a great teammate. I have a bunch of other great teammates: Travis Browne, Brandon Vera, Joey Beltran.
– It’s hard to go from a sport (wrestling) where I knew what I was doing to a sport (MMA) where I didn’t know what I was doing.
– I wear the pink shorts for breast cancer awareness. I’ve got some friends and family going through that and they appreciate knowing that someone else knows and cares.
– Where I lack experience I just make up for it with being a champion at heart. I just win, that’s what I do.
Chael Sonnen
– Mark’s recollection of it as a “heat of the moment” thing is appreciated, but it was a cold, calculated deliberate move.
– I assure you this fight will be “one more for the bad guy.”
– I got no problem with Anderson Silva but I’m not going to change my schedule around to fight him. He’s not going to fight me and don’t fall for the hype that he is. Not in America, not in Brazil while I’m trying to get a decent Brazilian stake.
– Everyone has fights they don’t want and Mark Munoz is on the top of my list, not just because I like him but also because he’s a very tough match for me. I’ve wrestled him 8 times and I’ve never beat him. This is just a competition and we’ll compete and we’ll shake hands at the end. It’s not like basketball players refuse to play their friends.
– I don’t believe Anderson’s hurt. He just got caught on tape working out with Wanderlei. How hard is it going to be becoming world champion by beating up math teachers. I think he’s ducking me. I think he’s ducking Henderson. I don’t think he’s eager to fight Bisping, you’ll have to talk to Henderson about that.
– I would imagine that Munoz is the best wrestler I’ve faced in MMA. He’s certainly the most decorated. Look I’m not a wrestler. I’m a fighter from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon.
– I’ve never seen a football or basketball in my whole life. I don’t follow sports. MMA is the only game I play.
– I hear guys talking about game plans and footwork with their gold chains and their eigth grade educations and I don’t do any of that.
– I actually held public office and I left the only way you should: in handcuffs.
– I don’t have a huge confidence that I can get Mark down and if I do I don’t have a huge confidence I can keep him down.
Mark Munoz
– Referring to allegations that Sonnen cheated in their collegiate wrestling match, “In the heat of the battle, he got a knee bar and cranked on it a little bit.”
– It’s an honor to fight Chael.
– I’ve trained with Anderson and he’s got the belt. I’m friends with Chael and we’re fighting. It’s nothing personal, it’s business. I want to become a world champ.
– I’m a huge Pacquiao fan and the fan support for me from the Philippines is growing. I plan to be the Manny Pacquiao of MMA.
Michael Bisping
– Ultimately on the night, you’re gonna fight, it doesn’t matter what the guy has said or not said. Whether or not Maia calls me names or not it doesn’t matter. I’ll be 100% motivated for this fight.
– Henderson’s just like Chael, they both have a problem with submission defense. Just because you blew your shot at Anderson Silva, don’t come talking smack about me.
Demian Maia
– There is some pressure to get a submission after I start out my UFC career with 5 straight subs. But I’ve been training boxing, been training wrestling, becoming a well rounded MMA fighter. I need to get back to my roots and focus on my Jiu-Jitsu. People expect me to get the submission when I get the fight to the floor.
– I don’t think I have an advantage because Bisping just came off a fight. Sometimes when you fight a lot you get in a good rhythm. I just fought in October so it’s not a big difference.
