Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO and Chairman, Lorenzo Fertitta, held down a lengthy interview on FOX Sports 1's "UFC Tonight" program earlier this evening (Weds., Oct. 1, 2014), discussing several hot-button issues and other mixed martial arts (MMA) odds and ends.
Watch the video in the player above and check out a few transcribed highlights below (via FOX Sports):
Fertitta on if he and Dana White disagree on much:
"We don't disagree on business things very often. We'll have a spirited debate, but we come to a compromise. One of our last debates was I was convinced that Roy Nelson would take down Mark Hunt, but he said no, it was going to be a stand up war. Just little stuff like that."
Fertitta on if he was hesitant on women joining the UFC:
"I wasn't hesitant at all. I became a fan when I started watching Strikeforce. They're tremendous athletes, and they should be on the biggest stage and make the same money as the men. I knew when we bought Strikeforce, but we waited for Dana to get comfortable with it. In the end, he has to sell the fights. He's the guy out in front."
Fertitta on Conor McGregor's impact on the UFC:
"When you look at it, we've never had an athlete come into the UFC with this much excitement and impact. Brock Lesnar didn't have an impact on the show that much, that early. He wasn't selling the shows and tickets. GSP took the long road to get there. Conor is incredible personality. He's brash, and he backs it up. Dana said he had everything, but if he could fight this much, he'd be a big star. It's been an interesting run. He backed it all up on Saturday night."
Fertitta on the UFC going to Mexico:
"Growing up in Vegas, I saw impact that Mexican boxing had on the market, and I knew the boxing impact in Mexico. We thought it would translate to us as well. We invested in developing talent in Mexico two to three years ago. We found a bunch of guys, and are doing the TUF Latin America show now. We've got a contract with a free over the air TV network. Plus, it doesn't hurt having Cain Velasquez as heavyweight champion. Everything came together."
Fertitta if on Cung Le testing positive makes the UFC look like it has a problem:
"Actually it's becoming less of a problem. We've stepped up our game testing. For the athletes, there's nowhere else to hide. Now, we're testing all guys on a card. It used to be random testing for a few guys on the card. The next step is to random test all 500 athletes, several times a year. We're sending a message: if you're cheating, you'll get caught, suspended and fined. We want the sport to be clean."
Fertitta on the UFC's code of conduct:
"We have a code of conduct that every fighter signs, and domestic violence is a breach of the code of conduct. We take it very serious and suspended Anthony Johnson when it came out that he had an allegation against him. We have a third party law firm go out there and get the facts and make a recommendation to us. Anthony is suspended until we get all the information. We're watching how plays out with courts as well. It's not going to be tolerated."