A media conference call was held today for UFC on FOX 5 "Henderson vs Diaz" happening December 8th at the Key Arena in Seattle WA. On the call was UFC President Dana White, FOX Sports Media Group President Eric Shanks, UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson, UFC Lightweight Title Challenger Nate Diaz, Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Former 2-division UFC Champion BJ Penn, and UFC Welterweight Contender Rory MacDonald. While everyone spoke on the call, it was legendary BJ Penn who fielded a majority of the questions, as did Dana White and Eric Shanks in relation to this biggest card yet to air on the FOX network.
Champion Ben Henderson on if he feels the need to win decisively over Nate Diaz
I'm just trying to get a W. I'm just trying to get my hand raised, however I can get it. He slips on a banana peel, I'll take it. If its a decisive victory, I'll take it. If its a razor-thin decision, even closer than the 2nd Frankie fight, I'll take that too. Getting a W is not easy to come by in the UFC. You're going against the best guys, literally, on the planet. I'll take it any way I can get it. That being said, I always fight to end fights and be as decisive as possible. But sometimes when you're fighting the best guys on the planet, you can't make it as easy as that. You can't make it super decisive. I think it would be kind of offensive if I said I'm going to go in there and knock out Nate Diaz no problem. No, I'm not going to say that. Nate Diaz is tough. He's darn tough. I'm just going to go out there and do my best and try to get my hand raised any way possible.
On what he has to do to get more media and mainstream attention as a UFC Champion
I really don't think a whole lot. I just think I need to continue doing what I'm doing. It's all a process. Life is a process. You want to be a great fighter, it doesn't happen over night... Its just a matter of staying in the grind, keep doing what I'm doing. And eventually if I keep on winning and keep putting the work in, then everything else falls into place... If I do want to be one of the greatest fighters of all time, I've got huge shoes to fill. And I'm excited to get that chance.
Nate Diaz on if he views the fight as important or if he sees it as just another fight
Yeah, its a big fight. Its important. It's for the belt. It's pretty much the biggest thing going on right now."
On what it would mean if he won the Championship.
I think that it'd be good because my whole team has been champions somewhere down the line. I think maybe it's my turn.
Shogun Rua on fight with Alexander Gustafsson
I'm ready for this fight. I think this is a fight every fan wants to see because we both look for the knockout. We are strikers. I think the fans will have a wonderful show.
BJ Penn on why he's coming back to fight and on asking for MacDonald as an opponent
I was just kind of hanging out and started to get the itch that I wanted to fight again. Better than staying at home and sitting on the couch. I realized that I can't do this forever so I might as well make the most of it what I can. As far as fighting with Rory, I think he's a great opponent. He's an up and comer. He's one of the top guys. Everyone says he's going to be a champion soon... I just think its a great fight all around.
On what he expects of himself in the fight.
I really expect a lot out of myself on December 8th. I got back together with my old trainer that trained me for the Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk fights. We took my belly off. I think the best thing for me was the fight getting postponed and getting pushed back. Actually, I think I started this training camp at 40 percent body fat. I was just going to get into shape a little, go there and give it my best effort. But as things started going on, Rory ended up pulling out 10 weeks before the last fight. And he was saying that he saw me and I looked fat, a bunch of different things. That he'll probably end up killing me in the ring. That really lit a fire under my butt. And I'm down under 10 percent now. I'm ready to go now. I'm expecting the best BJ Penn that I've ever seen.
On his legacy and what he feels he has left in the game.
I actually texted Dana a couple months ago and I said 'Dana, I watch all these interviews and all these people talking, and no one says my name when they're talking about the greatest fighters anymore'. And I really don't like that. It really bothers me. I know it's my fault. I know I'm the reason why people don't talk about me when they talk about GSP or Anderson Silva. My name was always in the mix. It's just never in the mix anymore. And I told Dana that I got a real problem with that. And that was actually a big part of my motivation to come back strong and do a good fight here on December 8th... I don't want to just be known as 'Oh he was good back in the day'. I want to be known as one of the best... I still think I have something left to accomplish.
Rory MacDonald on if GSP gave him advice on fighting BJ Penn
He told me a few things but I'm not the kind of guy that wants to know everything about somebody. I really don't care. For all I know, BJ could have completely changed his training like maybe he's a Muay Thai fighter now. Who knows? I don't really care. I just get better as a fighter and as martial artist, and I just react to what's there. I really don't care about the past.
Rory MacDonald on his changes in training
I'm being a little bit more smart with my training as far as taking days off with my training. Before I wouldn't take days off, even if I was hurt. I just didn't. [Now] when I feel like I'm breaking down a little bit, when my body is breaking down, I just take a day off or I adjust it. Instead of sparring if I'm messed up, I'll go swim or something. I'll just adjust it in that kind of fashion. Its been keeping me healthy and I think for me, health is the most important. I know how to fight, so all I really need is my health. I'm in shape all year round because I train all the time. So if I'm healthy I can fight on a minute's notice. I'm ready to go. I just need to be healthy, that's all.
UFC President Dana White on Rory MacDonald fighting BJ Penn
There's a lot of hype behind him. A lot of people that I respect in the business say good things about him. You never really know until you see a guy. This is a big fight for Rory. The one thing you always know about BJ Penn, you're not going in there and running over BJ. BJ is going to fight until the end. He's doesn't cut, he's never been knocked out. BJ's a tough guy, BJ's a crafty guy. He's got good standup, obviously great submissions. His wrestling is good and I think BJ is going to be a big test for him.
On the strategy behind putting Title fights on consecutive UFC on FOX fight cards
The strategic idea is to put the best fights we can possibly put on FOX. You guys know what the last year and half has been like. It's tough to keep a card together. What do we got, like a week and a half to go. I want to say to all the fighters on this phone: tone your training down a little bit. Let's not get anyone injured this last week and a half. But it's always our intention to put on the best fights on FOX, on Pay-per-view, on FX, on Fuel. We're always trying to put on the best fights we can possibly do.
On the working relationship with FOX
In my opinion, being on one of the biggest networks in the world is huge. When you look at a company like FOX, FOX isn't just here in the United States. FOX is a global media company... I feel like we have a great relationship with this company and we're all talking about big, long term projects. And the things we're working on, the way we do business, its just absolutely impossible for this sport not to grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger... The UFC as a company continues to grow. We continually to try new things and to do new things, and FOX Media Group is exactly the same. I've been in the television business now for 13 years, and I'm going to be honest like I always am, there's a lot of people in this business I can't stand. I can't stomach. And it's hard to do business with a lot of these guys. We've found the perfect partners. We love the relationship with these guys. We love this company. And like I said, this is a group of guys we want to be with forever.
FOX Sports Media President Eric Shanks on the working relationship with the UFC
From our standpoint, we knew that this relationship is going to grow and get bigger every year. The first year was really to get the mainstream advertiser base behind it. And also promote the UFC in the likes of NFL, and Major League Baseball, and college football. And make it part of a big Fox Sports portfolio. And we've done that. We've got over a hundred major advertisers now. We've introduced 15 new advertising categories just in the last 12 months. This is exactly where we thought we would be, if not ahead. With some of the things we're talking about with Dana and Lorenzo, this relationship is going to look different over the next two years, three years. And its only going to get bigger because you're going to get much more economic support from the advertiser base behind it and when that happens, this thing is going to be one of the top sports in the US on television.
UFC on FOX: Henderson vs Diaz takes place Saturday, December 8th at the KeyArena in Seattle with the main card airing live on FOX at 5 PM PT. The preliminary card will start at 12:30 PM PT with three fights airing on UFC's Facebook page, and the rest of the 6 preliminary bouts will air on FX starting at 2 PM PT.
Public weigh-ins will be held Friday, December 7th at the KeyArena with the fighters hitting the scales at 4 PM PT. Beforehand there will be a Q&A session with fans starting at 2 PM which will feature the NW's own UFC Champion in Flyweight Title holder Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson!
UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson
UFC ON FOX 5 FIGHT CARD
MAIN CARD (FOX 5pm PT/8pm ET)
UFC Lightweight Championship: Champion Benson Henderson vs Nate Diaz
205 lbs: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
170 lbs: Rory MacDonald vs. B.J. Penn
170 lbs: Matt Brown vs. Mike Swick
PRELIMINARY CARD (FX 2pm PT/5pm ET)
Heavyweight: Lavar Johnson vs. Brendan Schaub
155 lbs: Mike Chiesa vs. Marcus LeVesseur
135 lbs: Raphael Assuncao vs. Mike Easton
145 lbs: Nam Phan vs. Dennis Siver
155 lbs: Ramsey Nijem vs. Joe Proctor
155 lbs: Yves Edwards vs. Jeremy Stephens
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET)
155 lbs: Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez
135 lbs: John Albert vs. Scott Jorgensen
155 lbs: Tim Means vs. Abel Trujillo
For more information, visit www.ufc.com.
All bouts live and subject to change.
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