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[Cat--Smasher]

After UFC on FOX 2, White admittedly lost patience for those without patience

Dana White said he "wasn't in the mood" to attend the UFC on FOX 2 post-event press conference – after 10 years of not missing a fight and maybe missing only a handful of pressers.

"I usually try to skip press conferences where I know I'm going to," White said before someone offered, "get hammered?"

In so many words, yes. Three main-card fights went to a decision during the Jan. 28 event, and he knew naysayers would be out in force and that there would be much hand-wringing over the future of UFC on network TV.

He skipped it because he didn't want hear that. And he didn't want to say what he wanted to those who thought it was a lackluster event for the small screen: Shut up.

With Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller cued up for UFC on FOX 3 in May, it appears the promotion has a fight that should be exciting no matter what. But for all the criticism aimed at the most recent network event, and to observers who claim they saw a boring show coming, White couldn't restrain himself at a pre-event press conference for UFC 143, which takes place Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

"There was so much hype for (Chael) Sonnen vs. (Michael) Bisping and the (Demian) Maia fight," he told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "Even after it changed, people were like, 'It's even more exciting now.' And then after, everybody's like, 'Aww, they set themselves up for these boring fights.' Shut up. People who come out after and say, 'Oh, we knew (this was going to happen),' you're a liar. You're a liar, you're an idiot, and you sound like an idiot when you say that.

"These fights all looked exciting. You just never know what's going to happen. Anything can happen on any given night."

White did concede that an unofficial streak of exciting fights over the course of several recent events was broken by UFC on FOX 2, but he said that was inevitable.

"You could have three fights go to decisions, or you could have three fights that you think are going to go longer and it lasts 60 seconds," he said. "It's fighting. The hardest part of the whole thing is figuring out production. How many fights can you schedule with the commercial load that you've got and all the other things that you have to do? We did a pretty good job of getting this thing dialed in after that first fight going 60 seconds."

And he said the shape of the current FOX broadcasts will continue to evolve.

"It's going to be more about fighting," White said. "FOX has a system that they use with sports, where it's like they come in to the big desk and, 'Here we go, and we're going to do this and that.' What people are used to with the UFC is [Mike Goldberg] and (Joe) Rogan are on camera for two seconds and we get right into fights. We end up getting 40 fights in in an hour."

So that night, White essentially lost patience for those without patience.

He scoffed at the idea of shuffling a card to avoid televising a fight such as Maia vs. Chris Weidman, which saw two exhausted men swinging Toughman-style after 10 minutes as the likely result of Weidman's 30-plus pound weight cut and a possible illness with Maia.

First-time fans who watched that affair may have been less than impressed by what they saw. But White isn't tweaking things for them.

"So what?" he said. "It's all part of the growing pains of the sport. When we started on Spike TV, everybody was acting like every fight we had on Spike TV was the greatest fight you've ever seen in your life. The streak has been broken. You're going to have some fights that you're going to turn off the TV and go, 'Eh, it's not the greatest fight I've ever seen.'

"Would I have turned off the show the other night and said that sucked? No, it didn't suck. The Bisping-Chael Sonnen fight was awesome."

After UFC on FOX 2, White admittedly lost patience for those without patience | MMAjunkie.com

[rivethead]

I don't hate fights that don't get finished. I don't really understand people who do, unless there is a controversy with the officiating. Individual fights where nothing happens are pretty awful [RIP Yellow Card] but if you get a quick KO like with JDS/Velasquez, some mope is going to feel cheated; and if you get a fight that goes to a decision, some other mope is going to be bored.

rh

[optimusjoel]

It's hard to say how these fights came across to new viewers. I didn't like the Chael/Bisping fight, I thought it was really sloppy and that Chael could have fought so much smarter. While the Rashad/Davis fight I thought was really entertaining. Watching Rashad break Phil down with technique is exactly the kind of fight that made me a fan in the first place. It wasn't two mindless guys swinging till one falls over. I would think the fact that no one just sat in in full guard for an extended period of time would be a good thing.

[disposableassassin]

i enjoyed the whole show from top to bottom. the third rd of the weidman fight was not so great but i still enjoyed the fight and watching the up and comer get a big win on short notice was nice. i def fall in the "hardcore fan" catagory though. my wife was asleep but she would fall asleep during hendo/shogun so she isnt even a casual fan. i dunno what defines a casual fan? do they like sloppy brawls or displays of strong techinque? would a fight have to be finished to satisfy a casual fan?

[Sniggles]

Can't please everyone. Stupid people always complain.

[goodtimes]

The only gripe I had was that Jones/Evans was the main event instead of Bisping/Sonnen. Bisping/Sonnen wasn't the most exciting fight, but I still thought it was by far the best fight on the main card and the one with the most hype. Also, seeing Sonnen look vulnerable was an eye opener for a lot of fans, very similar to Machida/Shogun 1.

OK I had one more gripe; the fox style shit with the big desk where a bunch of guys sit around and talk, then the camera cuts to some other guys who talk, then some other guys talking, is fucking stupid. The UFC PPV format blows the Foxsports format out of the water. They could have played the Johnson/Beltran fight between the Maia/Weidman and Bisping/Sonnen fight, and probably could have fit the Roop/Swanson fight between the co-main and main event, which would have been great for people who missed the prelims, and would have made the overall experience a lot more exciting. Hell, even if they just showed highlights of the under card instead of all the retarded talking it would have been 100x better.

[SimpleJack]

"Even after it changed, people were like, 'It's even more exciting now.' And then after, everybody's like, 'Aww, they set themselves up for these boring fights.' Shut up. People who come out after and say, 'Oh, we knew (this was going to happen),' you're a liar. You're a liar, you're an idiot, and you sound like an idiot when you say that.

What a way to talk about your fans.

I'm sure Goodell and Stern will follow suit and begin speaking the same way.