UFC QUOTABLES: Dana White asks why Fedor would fight in the UFC when he can "make millions getting beat up" in Strikeforce

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I've been saying it for a long time. I've had all these goofy reporters arguing with me about where [Fedor] stands in the pound-for-pound list, and his fans just need to deal with it. Deal with the fact that he's not one of the best in the world, he's not. It's over, and as great as this guy was, it's what I was saying, all that was back in 2005. It's not 2005 any more. The guy's inactive, hasn't fought anybody good in a long time, and... he looks old and it's over. It is what it is.?

You just can?t do business with [M-1 Global]. And they've made it very clear, even before he got beat up twice, that they don't want to fight the guys in the UFC. They don't want to. Why would you want to come in here? You saw what happened to him the last two fights. Why would you want to come in here and fight these heavyweights when you can go over there and make a couple million bucks getting beat up by guys that aren't good."

-UFC President Dana White talks to Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com and gives his thoughts on Fedor Emelianenko's latest loss to Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva earlier this month.

Penick's Analysis: As with most of White's commentary on this subject, he makes solid points but also negates some of it by saying he "hasn't fought anybody good" in a long time. Andrei Arlovski was good when he beat him. He was beat by two fighters who can compete in the UFC's heavyweight division. Werdum did compete in the heavyweight division, and left the UFC because the UFC didn't want to pay him what he felt he was worth. Granted, he got blasted by Junior Dos Santos, but so have a number of guys that the UFC still promotes. And Bigfoot, with only two losses in his career, would be a very good addition to the UFC in the future, so saying they aren't good fighters doesn't do anyone any good. But his points about Fedor not being the best in the world anymore and dealing with a difficult group in M-1 Global are solid, and it's true that there was more money for M-1 in taking the fights in Strikeforce than there would be right now in the UFC. However, had they gone with the UFC in 2009 when they reportedly offered him more than any fighter on the UFC's roster, he would have made more overall for a pay-per-view fight with Brock Lesnar at the time, even if he would have lost. It's too late to know for sure now, but it is true that Fedor is no longer the greatest heavyweight in the world. He was for a long time, but that time has passed.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8594.shtml

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