Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was recently on SportsNet in Canada to preview UFC on Fox 9, which takes place this weekend (Sat., Dec., 14, 2013) with a Flyweight main event rematch between Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez, as well as review the "sickest" Heavyweight fight ever between Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva that took place last Friday night (Dec. 6, 2013) at UFC Fight Night 33.
He is kind of excited ... most likely because of this.
White also addresses the big mixed martial arts (MMA) "news" that surfaced earlier this morning that Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has staged a press conference for this Friday afternoon to address his fight future.
That's not really the case, according to White, who revealed that it is instead a promotional appearance to sign autographs for fans that also includes a 10-minute session with media. It's an appearance that was scheduled well before St-Pierre announced he needed some "time away" from the sport to get his head right post-UFC 167.
"This thing was planned for months -- he's going to the opening of a mall and he's signing autographs for fans.... I'm not saying he might not have something to say ... he might, but it's no crazy announcement like everyone was saying earlier," he said. "There's no doubt I had a bit of a meltdown at the last press conference, but who has said more positive things about Georges St-Pierre in the last 13 years than me? Seriously."
Having said that, White admitted that it's "tough to say" whether or not "Rush" will retire from the sport at some point in the near future.
"Georges St-Pierre never said to me that he is thinking about retiring ... never," he said. "The retirement word never came out of his mouth.... I don't think that he's going to retire, but I do know that he wants some time off, which is an issue -- he just had over a year off for his ACL surgery."
White mentioned that he and St-Pierre have a meeting planned for Thursday when the French-Canadian returns from vacation to talk about the current situation and, most likely, try and come to some kind of shared understanding.
Unless, of course, St-Pierre really does drop a bombshell on White, and then combat sports fans, one day later.
Stay tuned!
Get the latest gear
- 2023 Panini Prizm UFC Factory Sealed Retail Blaster Box
- 2023 Panini Select UFC Factory Sealed Retail Blaster Box
- Islam Makhachev Walkout Jersey
- UFC Fanatics Single Glove Display Case
- 2022 Panini Donruss Optic Retail Blaster Box
- 2023 Donruss UFC Retail Blaster Box
- Miesha Tate UFC Authentic Plaque
- Brock Lesnar WWE Home Sweet Home Collage